Bad News Republicans, Voters Aren’t Going To Care About Hillary Clinton’s Emails

Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 11:21 am

Experts and scholars are giving Republicans some very bad news. Voters are unlikely to give a damn about Hillary Clinton’s emails in 2016.

The problem that Republicans have is that the “scandal” that they are trying to gin up can’t be easily explained. The Clinton emails are following the same path as Benghazi and the IRS scandal. Most people aren’t paying attention, and the “scandal” can’t be easily explained in a 30 second ad.

As Brendan Nyhan, an assistant professor of government at Dartmouth, wrote:

The actual public response to the controversy is likely to be a combination of apathy and partisanship. Few Americans are paying attention to any aspect of the campaign at this point. Those who do notice will most likely divide largely along partisan lines, with Democrats interpreting her actions more charitably, especially once they see Republicans attacking Mrs. Clinton on the issue.

Any significant political costs are also likely to be fleeting because the revelations came so early in the campaign cycle. It is hard to believe that a lack of transparency in Mrs. Clinton’s use of email will have a significant effect on a general election that will be held some 20 months from now. As the political scientist John Sides wrote on Twitter, “In October 2016, no persuadable voter will be thinking about Hillary Clinton’s email account.” It’s equally implausible that this revelation will draw a second top-tier candidate into the race for the Democratic nomination given the advantages Mrs. Clinton retains over possible rivals like Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren.

The Clinton email “scandal” is a byproduct of a bored mainstream press who need something to cover on the Democratic side of the 2016 election. There is no real story here. Every political figure uses private email. Scott Walker has his own email scandal in Wisconsin. Jeb Bush received 3 million emails as governor of Florida, 500,000 of them on a private account. Of the 3 million emails that he received, he has only released 250,000. Chris Christie has numerous scandals unfolding in New Jersey and private emails play a role in all of them.

The reason the Republican candidates have been so quiet about the Clinton emails is that they all have their own skeletons in their inbox closets.

Former Sec. Clinton took the steam out of any potential Republican congressional investigation by calling for all of her emails to be released:

When voters go into the voting booth on Election Day in 2016, history tells us that they aren’t going to care about Hillary Clinton’s email accounts.

The media jumped on this story because the Democrats have no primary contest to speak of, and the Republican candidates combined have about as much charisma as a cold bowl of oatmeal. The press is looking to drum up a little business, and desperate Republicans are trying to latch on to anything to stop Clinton. It all adds up to a story that the Beltway chattering class will natter on about, but it will mean nothing to voters in 2016.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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