Clinton beats Obama and Biden as well as Republicans in popularity contest
February 8, 2013Hillary Clinton is America's favorite pol, according to a new national survey unveiled Friday. Clinton tops President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, House Speaker John Boehner and other GOP stars unknown by most of the public, like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush.
In the Quinnipiac University survey, 61 percent of voters said they approved of Clinton versus 34 percent who disapproved. The president only had 51 percent approval and 40 percent disapproval.
"Hillary Clinton ends her term as Secretary of State and the bruising inquiry into the Benghazi murders as easily the most popular actor on the American political stage today," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, in a release accompanying the poll results.
Brown said Clinton's strength over Obama and others comes from higher approval among independent and Republicans voters.
"After an initial burst of re-election enthusiasm for President Barack Obama, we may be seeing a return to the age of the polarized electorate," he said. "The lower approval numbers for the president could be because once the election afterglow is gone; governing inevitably requires decisions that make some voters unhappy."
Biden, who could be Clinton's top rival to win the 2016 Democratic presidential primary if they both choose to run, has a 46 percent approval versus 41 percent disapproval rating. Both Clinton and Biden were praised by voters for their job performance, experience and competence. Clinton's detractors cited the controversy surrounding the deadly attack in Benghazi, while Biden's cited his job performance.
The poll surveyed 1,772 registered voters between Jan. 30 and Feb. 4 and has an error margin of 2.3 percent.