Poll shows Hillary losing ground as her lead shrinks over Bernie Sanders and the elusive Joe Biden – and Americans still think 'liar' when they hear her name
- USA Today/Suffolk University poll shows Clinton retains a strong but shrinking lead over challengers
- Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden making gains as Clinton's email controversy continues to wound her campaign
- Most frequent words used to describe former secretary of state are 'liar,' 'dishonest' and 'untrustworthy'
Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton continues to command her party's field in the nomination race, but her lead has been cut in half over just the past two months, a poll released Thursday shows.
Clinton has 41 percent in the new USA Today/Suffolk University poll, while Sen. Bernie Sanders has 23 percent and Vice President Joe Biden has 20 percent even though Biden hasn't decided whether or not to run.
More bad news for the former first lady and secretary of state - when asked to describe their thoughts about her in a single word or phrase, most poll respondents chose 'liar/dishonest' or 'untrustworthy/fake.'
In July, the same poll found Clinton at 59 percent, Sanders at 14 percent and Biden at 8 percent.
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Hillary Clinton appeared at a substance abuse prevention forum in Boston on Thursday as a new poll released by USA Today and Suffolk University show her lead in the Democratic presidential field has shrunken
Bernie Sanders has gained significant ground on Clinton, Thursday's poll shows, as the Vermont senator has jumped from 14 to 23 percent since July
The poll confirms that voters consider Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state a major issue. Six in 10 respondents called the issue bothersome, and 7 in 10 predicted it would hurt her chances in a general election.
The controversy over Clinton's email has dogged her campaign since the spring and has prompted an FBI inquiry into the potential mishandling of classified information through the private server.
Clinton has denied any wrongdoing, but has repeatedly apologized in national interviews.
She has not been formally accused of any crime and is scheduled to testify before the House Select Committee on Benghazi on Oct. 22.
Republicans keep fueling the fire, however, leading to the steady erosion of Clinton's once-solid hold on the Democratic nomination.
Thursday's poll found the former first lady has a favorable rating of 39 percent and an unfavorable rating of 51 percent, a marked difference from July, when the gap was much more narrow, at 43-47 percent.
By contrast, Sanders has a 37 percent favorability rating and a 33 percent unfavorable rating, while Biden is viewed favorably by 51 percent of respondents and negatively by just 35 percent.
More of the latest news on Hillary Clinton and her 2016 presidential campaign
As Vice President Joe Biden continues to wrestle privately with the question of whether to run for president, he continues to gain ground in the Democratic primary in poll after poll
Clinton is scheduled to testify on Oct. 22 before a special House committee that was established to investigate the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya
When asked to name a single word that describes Clinton, respondents in the poll most frequently picked 'liar,' 'dishonest' or 'untrustworthy,' while for Sanders the most frequent response was 'socialist,' 'favorable' or 'good.'
For Biden, the most popular responses were 'favorable,' 'like,' 'honest' or 'honorable.'
The USA Today/Suffolk University poll included 430 likely Democratic voters and was conducted by phone Sept. 24-28. It has a margin of error plus or minus 5 percentage points.
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