Hillary Clinton says that she is not paying attention to her negative polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, because “this is a national campaign” and the Democratic nominating race will last for a couple rounds of primaries.
Clinton appeared on CNN Tuesday night before the State of the Union, responding for the first time to a pair of polls released Tuesday by Quinnipiac and Monmouth showing her losing to Sen. Bernie Sanders in the early states. Clinton trails five points in Iowa and fourteen points in New Hampshire, according to the respective polls.
“About an hour later there was a PPP poll showing me beating him,” Clinton said, referring to the Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey that showed her ahead in Iowa, but only by six percentage points.
“I don’t pay attention to this,” Clinton said of the polling. “So I’ll let people poll and figure out who’s going to show up.”
“I don’t think about that,” Clinton said when asked point blank if she has a plan for a scenario in which she loses both Iowa and New Hampshire. “I’m going to do everything I can then go to the primary. This is a national campaign.”
Clinton said that due to the unpredictable nature of the election so far, “we wouldn’t know what the outcome will be until after a couple rounds of these primaries.”
Clinton affirmed her respect for Vice President Joe Biden and said that “I consider [him] a friend.”
Clinton cited her previous 2008 campaign in Iowa as evidence for her strength in the Hawkeye State, despite the fact that she famously lost to Barack Obama in that historic caucus.
“I have the highest regard for my two opponents, but there are big differences,” Clinton said.
The Sanders Surge comes on the heels of news that the FBI is expanding its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email scandal to also investigate whether public corruption occurred, and powerful new revelations about Clinton’s health and medication consumption.
Sanders is picking up the support of white Democratic voters, whom polls show are fleeing Clinton in favor of more independent-leaning candidates like Donald Trump.
In Iowa, Sanders beat Clinton across the board on issues including how best to handle the economy (51 to 39) and climate change (51 to 32), and he’s still beating her overall despite the fact that Clinton is way ahead of him in the poll on the issue of terrorism. White progressives less concerned with foreign policy are now firmly in Sanders’ camp.
As Breitbart News reported, Sanders has set up a staggering ground operation in central and eastern Iowa, largely on the backs of unpaid student labor.
Even onetime Clinton family consigliere George Stephanopoulos admitted that Clinton appears to be “bracing” for defeats in Iowa and New Hampshire.
The reason seems to be white voters.
A new Reuters poll shows Republican Donald Trump leading Clinton among white voters nationally, 44.2 percent to 27.3 percent.
Trump also leads Clinton among whites with college degrees, beating her 46 percent to 23.5 percent.
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