Republican candidate Donald Trump is now seen as more honest than Democratic Hillary Clinton, leading 46 to Clinton’s 38 per cent, an eight-point edge on honesty and trustworthiness among likely voters.
A 59 per cent majority of likely voters disapprove of Clinton’s handling of questions about her use of personal email while serving as Secretary of State, according to the latest Post-ABC poll.
The two candidates were tied on this measure at the last polls in September, which found majorities seeing each candidate as dishonest.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced on Friday that it might examine additional emails from an investigation that Clinton use her private email account for official duty after previously closing its investigation in June.
Republicans are united in their criticism of Clinton’s handling of questions about her email use, with 90 per cent saying they disapproved of her response.
The email scandal also now threatens her standing with independents and enthusiasm among Democrats.
In the latest survey, 67 per cent of independents disapproved of Clinton’s handling of questions on the email.
Similarly, 29 per cent of Democrats gave her negative marks for the way she had addressed the issue.
Independents and Democrats are where Clinton has lost the most ground to Trump on the question of honesty since late September.
As at late September, Trump held a narrow five-point edge among independents on which candidate was more honest and trustworthy with 45 to 40 per cent.
However, in the latest poll, Trump leads by 23 points with independents on the question of honesty, with 49 to 26 per cent.
The shift was due mostly to a rise among ‘Clintonians’ and a rise in the percentage saying “neither” was honest, according to the poll.
Among Democrats, the share saying Clinton is more honest than Trump has dipped from 86 per cent in early September to 76 per cent.
Republicans have changed little in their view that Trump is more honest with 86 per cent then to 87 per cent now, it states.
