Voter Perception of Hillary’s Health Collapses

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A new YouGov poll finds that perceptions of Hillary Clinton’s health plunged after Hillary’s collapse during her early “medical episode” induced departure from New York’s 9/11 commemoration ceremony.

Asked “Regardless of your overall opinion of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, do you think each one is in good enough physical condition to serve effectively as president for the next four years, only 39 percent now say that Hillary’s physical condition is good enough, while 38 percent say that it is not good enough. That is a yuge drop from the first week of September [see page 67], when 52 percent of Americans thought she was healthy enough 33 did not.

Worse for Hillary, the collapse in perceptions about Hillary’s health is greatest among Democrats. According to YouGov, at the beginning of September, 84% of Democrats thought she was healthy enough, compared to 64% now. Among independents this has dropped 10% to 32%, and among Republicans it only fell 7% to 17%.

The perceptions of Trump’s health weren’t impacted as much. At the beginning of September, 63 percent thought The Donald was healthy enough, and 11 percent thought he wasn’t. Now 62 percent think Trump is healthy enough and 19 percent think he is isn’t.

Neither Hillary nor The Donald are spring chickens. Donald Trump is 70 and Hillary Clinton is 68, and will turn 69 next month. Barack Obama, by comparison, was 47 when he was inaugurated and George W. Bush was 54. Hillary and The Donald would both be among the oldest ever to become President. Trump would be 70, the same age as Ronald Reagan when he became president.

Michael Tortorello reports that science says brain function often declines noticeably at that age: Age alone makes their health a legitimate issue, though it took Hillary’s medical episode to convince the biassed media wing of the Democrats’ party.