(This column originally appeared in the Toronto Sun)
Hillary Clinton has an authenticity problem. She is the ultimate insider — a longstanding member of the political elite — and she has a difficult time connecting with voters. Her robotic approach to politics doesn’t help.
Clinton is an establishment candidate, competing in an anti-establishment election cycle.
Despite running against the most unpopular Republican candidate, perhaps ever, in Donald Trump, Clinton cannot seem to seal the deal, or even pull ahead in the race.
Recent polls suggest a dead heat, within statistical margins of error, going into the final six weeks of the campaign.
“Why aren’t I 50 points ahead, you might ask?” Clinton shouted awkwardly in a pre-taped message to her trade union friends last week.
The answer is clear for anyone who has been following the campaign. Clinton is really bad at this.
Two-thirds of Americans say they do not trust her. About 55% view her unfavorably, according to the polls.
She is almost as unpopular as Trump, and to many, she’s worse.
Clinton’s flaws are as evident as Trump’s.
Scandals seem to follow her wherever she goes, from the state department, to her family’s private charity, to her previous time in the White House.
She wasn’t even honest about her own health, denying an illness until she was caught on a cell phone video fainting in New York. Only then did she admit she was suffering from pneumonia.
Clinton is seen as secretive, politically corrupt, dishonest and untrustworthy by millions of Americans. Those are difficult impressions to shake.
But there is a new narrative emerging from discouraged Democrats and frustrated Clinton supporters in the US.
Rather than looking critically at their own candidate…READ MORE
