Hillary's amazing shrinking lead

The Democrats’ “inevitable” nominee, Hillary Clinton, is watching her polling lead evaporate at an alarming rate.  Nick Gass of Politico writes:

Hillary Clinton is still leading the Democratic field for 2016, but her lead has shrunk in recent months, according to a Monmouth University poll out Wednesday, as independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders continues to make steady gains, despite trailing by a wide margin.

Among Democrats and those leaning toward the Democratic Party, Clinton picked up the support of 51 percent, down from 57 percent in June and 60 percent in April.

So Democrats and leaners are evenly divided on whether or not Hillary should be the nominee.  That’s still way ahead of any other single candidate, with Sanders at only 17 percent.  Then again, Joe Biden has yet to declare, and:

If Vice President Joe Biden were to run, however, the results suggest that he would take some votes from Clinton. He has not announced his intentions, but poll respondents backed him with 13 percent, just behind Sanders.

Among voters who said they were likely to vote for Biden in the event of his candidacy, 68 percent said they currently support Clinton, while 18 percent said they are backing another candidate, with 14 percent undecided.

These numbers indicate significant disquiet over Hillary.

Update from AP:

Just 39 percent of all Americans have a favorable view of Clinton, compared to nearly half who say they have a negative opinion of her. That's an eight-point increase in her unfavorable rating from an AP-GfK poll conducted at the end of April.
The drop in Clinton's numbers extends into the Democratic Party. Seven in 10 Democrats gave Clinton positive marks, an 11-point drop from the April survey. Nearly a quarter of Democrats now say they see Clinton in an unfavorable light.
"I used to like her, but I don't trust her," said Donald Walters of Louisville, Kentucky. "Ever since she's announced her candidacy for the presidency I just haven't liked the way she's handled things. She doesn't answer questions directly."
While Clinton's approval rating fell, Obama's stayed constant at 46 percent since April. More than 8 in 10 Democrats have a positive view of the president.

To be sure, her support is far, far higher among Dems than support among Republicans for any member of that crowded field.  But she wears the mantle in inevitability, and yet it is clear that she does not wear it well with many members of her party.  Even the MSNBC auxiliary can’t restrain themselves from laughing at her robotic answers yesterday to questions about Iran, as Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit noted. 

In the money primary, however, she is doing well.  Jennifer Epstein of Politico:

Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign raised close to $47 million in primary money during its first quarter and has $28.85 million in cash on hand, according to a report filed Wednesday with the Federal Elections Commission. (snip)

More than 250,000 people from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia and all U.S. territories gave to support Clinton's candidacy, the campaign said in a statement, and 94 percent of donations were of $250 or less. The average donation was $144.89 and, showing Clinton's appeal to female voters, 61 percent of donors were women.

Bernie Sanders actually had more donors (284,000)!  The Democrats are now in very tricky territory, with a highly flawed leading candidate on their hands, one given to vengeance and able to raise large amounts of money, and seen as a champion of a vital constituency.  So the stakes for Biden, seen as the leading establishment figure able to challenge her, are very high.  The amount of pressure on him will reflect the degree of concern over Hillary’s startling incompetence as a candidate.

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