Hillary Clinton’s Favorability Rating Hits Two-Decade Low

As Hillary Clinton awaits the vote at the Democratic National Convention to officially make her the Democratic nominee, polls have found that her reputation has dropped to its lowest point in all of her 24 years in the public spotlight.

According to the mid-July Gallup poll, 57 percent of Americans view Clinton unfavorably, compared to 38 percent who say that they have a favorable view of her. Her ratings have nearly tied with those of Republican nominee Donald Trump, who scored 36 percent favorable and 59 percent unfavorable in the same survey.

Clinton’s image has been under scrutiny since 1992, when Bill Clinton first campaigned for the White House. Though her favorability rating was initially mixed, it grew to higher than 60 percent by 1993 and reached a peak of 67 percent in December 1998.

Throughout the last few years, however, her numbers have dipped far below her January 1996 record low of 43 percent and her second lowest of 44 percent in March 2001.

Mrs. Clinton’s reputation was at its highest during Mr. Clinton’s impeachment proceedings in 1998 and 1999, when she served as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, and when she exited the limelight in 2013.

However, since she launched her campaign and faced scrutiny for her use of a private email server as secretary of state, as well as her response to the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, and other issues, Mrs. Clinton’s image has headed steadily downhill.

Gallup points out that, since Clinton’s reputation has changed so drastically over the years, it is possible, if unlikely, that it could flip to its average between 1992 and 2014, when 55 percent viewed her favorably and 39 percent viewed her unfavorably.

The race is shaping up to be a close one, between what polls show to be the two most unliked candidates in recent history. Though Clinton has long been considered the most likely to win, Trump has now surpassed her in two of the election’s most crucial battleground states, Florida and Pennsylvania, according to a Quinnipiac poll.

Sources: Gallup, Quinnipiac / Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr