Clinton’s ratings did not vary meaningfully across income levels or age. | M.Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO POLITICO poll: Dim views of Clinton's time at State

A majority of voters are unimpressed with Hillary Clinton’s performance as secretary of State, according to a new POLITICO poll.

Just 14 percent described her time at State — she served four years ending in February 2013 — as “excellent,” while another 28 percent defined it as “good.” Another 21 percent called it “fair” and 32 percent rated her performance “poor.” Six percent weren’t sure or declined to answer. The survey of likely voters in states and districts with the most competitive House and Senate races was conducted this month as Clinton traveled around the country to promote her new memoir, “Hard Choices,” and discuss her time at the nation’s top diplomat.


Clinton’s ratings did not vary meaningfully across income levels or age, but there was a clear partisan divide over the former secretary of State and likely 2016 presidential candidate. Some 79 percent of Democrats viewed her performance as either good or excellent, while just 12 percent of Republicans saw her that way. Only 15 percent of Democrats thought she did the job fairly or poorly, in contrast to 86 percent of Republicans.

( Full POLITICO poll results)

Yet, in a potential warning sign for Clinton, independents gave her poor marks by a nearly 2-to-1 margin: 60 percent of viewed her performance as “fair” or “poor,” compared with just 33 percent who answered “excellent” or “good.”

In a February 2013 Quinnipiac University survey, Clinton had a 61 percent favorable rating and a 34 percent unfavorable rating.

For much of the past 18 months, the public discussion surrounding Clinton’s time at State has focused on the attacks in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012, in which four Americans, including an ambassador, were killed.

There have been multiple congressional investigations into the attacks, and Clinton’s testimony before Congress in January 2013 received national coverage. House Republicans recently formed a select committee to probe the attacks.

( How the poll was conducted)

Democrats have denounced the ongoing investigations as a smear attempt, saying Republicans are refusing to accept the basic facts of the incident. But the focus on Benghazi has accounted for much of the information voters have received about Clinton’s tenure, at least before the book tour began last month.

The poll, designed by SocialSphere and conducted by the research firm GfK, surveyed 834 likely voters between July 3 and 13 in places with highly competitive midterm contests. The poll, conducted with GfK’s online KnowledgePanel methodology, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated the percentage of Democratic respondents who rated Clinton’s performance as secretary of state as “fair” or “poor.”

CORRECTION: Corrected by: Jessica Huff @ 07/21/2014 12:06 PM CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated the percentage of Democratic respondents who rated Clinton’s performance as secretary of state as “fair” or “poor.”