Why do American voters do not like a candidate with a broad curriculum, proven in world politics? Perhaps it is the fault of the emails scandal or Benghazi or counts on a long career of public exposure. Maybe it's this, or maybe it's just a matter of empathy. The failure rates of the candidates to the White House have never been so high - but the antibodies created by Donald Trump may be Clinton's luck
"What can you say to voters who like his resume but sympathize more with Barack Obama?" Asked the journalist. A Hillary Clinton began embarrassed to answer: "Well, that hurts my feelings ... But I'll try to move on." Then Senator Obama interrupted dialogue with a tirade that in 2016 all US newspapers insist on quoting: "You are friendly enough, Hillary."
The moment that seemed to embarrass Hillary Clinton took place in 2008, in a debate leading up to the Democratic primaries in New Hampshire - and everybody knows the end of this story - but it could happen now: that the problem of "likeability".
"This general election will be different from all the others, with two candidates [Trump and Clinton] that generate many antibodies even to their parties themselves," said Germano Almeida, American policy expert and author of "Inside Reelection" and "White House Stories" on the Obama administration. "Clinton's reproval rate is around 40%, which would be worrying if Donald Trump was not more than 60%."
The numbers do not lie: poll after poll, Clinton still can not seduce voters - and the reasons for this lack of empathy seem to be the same as the chase since it became a public figure. In 1980, when her husband Bill Clinton was trying to become governor of the conservative state of Arkansas, the now presidential candidate was criticized for being a woman focused on career and decided to add her husband's surname, Hillary Rodham .
During Bill Clinton's time in front of the White House, and although the "Times" refers to this secondary and traditional role of the first lady. Brought Hillary Clinton a positive image among Americans, the staff of the presidential couple knew that Hillary could not show 'motherly, caring or hot "with the voters.
A Clinton administration memo made public in 2014 and cited by "Quartz", can be read very specific advice activities that the then-first lady should do to win over the voters ( "Christmas shopping, singing natalícios themes with daughter Chelsea, make scrambled eggs for Sunday brunch "):
" Some Americans know not handle smart, strong, independent women, "explained the document.
In the current campaign, the candidate tried to circumvent the problem several times, appearing in a relaxed sketch of "Saturday Night Live" to serve drinks in a bar, being gentle on the Ellen Degeneres show or throwing jokes about Donald Trump.
"MACHIAVELLIAN, POWER-HUNGRY"
The add to the problems faced in the case of the US embassy in Benghazi, the famous emails of State sent via a private server and how she dealt with the infidelity of her husband, Hillary may even face an obstacle that to their opponents does not exist: to be a woman with ambition. "Voters are more comfortable to vote for men who they do not like, but they consider capable.
For women, capacity and empathy are required in equal measure," says Jennifer Lawless, director of American University Institute women and Politics.
Columnist of the "New York Times' David Brooks points out, in a text entitled" Why Is Clinton Disliked?
"A problem of modern times:
Americans identify her as a" formal character, career-focused, "in contrast with the most valued qualities in the era of social networks (usually reflected by Obama, that 81% of Americans said in 2012 to be able to address the problems of ordinary people, against 18% for Mitt Romney):
"intimacy, trust, vulnerability." Is that despite knowing Hillary for longer than almost any other American politician, voters still do not know who "Hillary public figure is from the private" and tend to regard it as "Machiavellian, power-hungry."