Repeat, repeat and repeat and it's all people hear
by digby
The Fix:
Email, email, email. Plus other words associated with Clinton's use of a private email server during her time at the State Department: FBI, interview and release (referring to the release of the FBI's interview with Clinton. Then, more generically, lie and scandal -- words tied to nothing in particular.
There are probably a few things at play here. The first is that Clinton's campaign schedule was fairly light after the conventions, focused on fundraising for the final push. That contributed to most of the news being generated about and not by the campaign, meaning that updates on the never-ending email saga may actually have been all people heard.
Second, we've seen much more negative reactions about Clinton fairly consistently in similar polling. Because Republicans often use similar words to describe her -- liar, dishonest, etc. -- those words can quickly rise to the surface in surveys like this.
Third, there aren't really many points of focus that Clinton's critics seize upon. The email server, certainly, and her relationship with the Clinton Foundation, which makes a few appearances. But generally, Clinton isn't prone to the sorts of wild shifts in media attention that Trump laments and enjoys at varying moments.
Oh my God. She's been turned into a lying criminal because there are so few things to criticize her about that the media had no choice but to report the few things the Republicans were saying on a loop.
Here's what people heard about Trump:
Each week, something new. Sometimes it's bad -- family and Muslim after the Democratic convention as he battled the Khans -- and often it's positive. His trip to Mexico and discussion of immigration made a splash, as did his suggestion that President Obama founded the Islamic State, a comment that came the same week as his comments about Hillary Clinton and "Second Amendment people." (The word bear in the most recent week also presumably deals with the right to bear arms, and Trump's latest comments about Clinton in that regard.)
What people hear about Trump is all over the place, with his various controversial comments quickly rising and falling. Underneath, fairly positive themes: speech and president.
You'll notice that the media has nothing to do with any of this. So that's good.
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