Hillary Clinton enjoyed remarkably high approval ratings during her time as secretary of state under President Obama, but those numbers have evaporated as the Middle East burns and Moscow continues its expansion westward — leaving her legacy in tatters.

This development is occurring at a terrible time for Clinton, months before she is expected to announce her 2016 presidential ambitions.

Only 43 percent of U.S. voters hold a favorable opinion of the former secretary of state, while 41 percent of voters have a negative view, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Tuesday. That's a significant shift from the same poll taken in Jan. 2013, just before she left her post with the Obama administration. Back then, 56 percent had favorable views compared with just 25 percent who had negative views. A Feb. 2009 poll showed Clinton's approval rating topping out at 59 percent.

“The numbers suggest Americans are far less charitable about Ms. Clinton when she is seeking office or, in this case, merely considering it than they are about other politicians who retire from public office,” a report accompanying the poll noted.The survey, which was conducted from Sept. 3-7, 2014, contains a sampling margin of error of 3.10 percentage points, stands in stark contrast.

But Clinton's rapid and steady decline in popularity could also suggest that voters are starting to link her time at state to the many serious crises developing overseas.

That is, perhaps it's not so much that Americans are simply “less charitable” to Clinton for the mere fact that she is reportedly eyeing a run in 2016. Perhaps Clinton's numbers are tanking because certain U.S. lawmakers, including Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and members of the press have exerted a great deal of energy reminding everyone that she's connected to the current crises in the Middle East and the miserably failed “reset” with Russia.

"There will be discussion over the next four years whether or not Hillary Clinton is fit to lead this country," Paul said in August at an event in Dallas, referring to her handling of the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya. "Is Hillary Clinton fit to be commander in chief?"

Still, even with the bad press and sliding numbers, Clinton's in a better spot than other would-be, could-be 2016 contenders.

“Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush – three Republicans mentioned as potential White House hopefuls in 2016 – are all viewed more negatively than positively,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “Only Florida Sen. Marco Rubio garnered as many positive views as he did negative ones, with registered voters split evenly at 21%-21%.”

When Clinton accepted the offer from president-elect Barack Obama to become secretary of state in 2008, she likely calculated it would build her credibility and standing in the political world.

However, six years after accepting the role, and less than two years after resigning from the position, Clinton's time at state may have actually done more to hurt her standing and popularity with U.S. voters than it did to build her reputation.