Should Hillary Clinton Suspend Her Campaign?

Growing national security questions about Hillary Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server during her time as secretary of State are drowning out much of her message as a presidential candidate and causing many of her fellow Democrats to worry about the future of her campaign. Is it time for Clinton to put her campaign on temporary hold?

Voters are almost evenly divided on that question: the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 46% of Likely U.S. Voters believe Clinton should suspend her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination until all of the legal questions about her use of the private e-mail server are resolved. Nearly as many (44%) disagree. Nine percent (9%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Even one-in-four Democrats (24%) agree that the front-runner for their party’s nomination should suspend her campaign for the time being. But that compares to 73% of Republicans and 46% of voters not affiliated with either major party.

Forty-five percent (45%) of all voters - but only 18% of Democrats - now consider the national security questions raised about Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server while serving as secretary of State to be a serious scandal. Twenty-eight percent (28%) of likely voters consider the matter an embarrassing situation, while nearly as many (23%) say it’s no big deal.

At the same time, Vice President Joe Biden is reportedly moving closer to a decision whether to challenge Clinton for the Democratic nomination because of her e-mail woes. Our latest Hillary Meter shows the former first lady losing ground noticeably among voters, but Democrats weren’t overly enthusiastic about a Biden run earlier this month.

Clinton has been far and away the leader of the Democratic presidential pack in surveys for months. Rasmussen Reports will release its latest numbers from the Democratic presidential race at 8:30 a.m. Eastern tomorrow. 

Rasmussen Reports Managing Editor Fran Coombs or spokesman Leon Sculti are available for media comment on these poll results. Call 732-776-9777x205 or send e-mail to leon.sculti@rasmussenreports.com to schedule now.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on August 23-24, 2015 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

As recently as a month ago (and there have been additional questions raised since then), 54% of voters already felt Clinton’s use of a private, non-government provider for her e-mail while serving as secretary of State raises serious national security concerns.

Men believe a bit more strongly than women that Clinton should temporarily suspend her campaign. White voters are nearly twice as likely as black voters to think she should put her campaign on hold. Other minority voters tend to oppose that idea.

Middle-income voters are stronger advocates of a campaign hold than those in other income brackets.

Voters who approve of the job President Obama is doing are strongly opposed to Clinton suspending her campaign. Most voters who disapprove of the president’s job performance think she should take a break until the legal questions about the e-mail server are resolved.

Just 37% of all voters say they trust Clinton. Sixty-three percent (63%) think it’s likely some actions Clinton took as secretary of State were influenced by donations made to the Clinton Foundation. This includes 42% who say it’s Very Likely.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

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Rasmussen Reports Managing Editor Fran Coombs or spokesman Leon Sculti are available for media comment on these poll results. Call 732-776-9777x205 or send e-mail to leon.sculti@rasmussenreports.com to schedule now.