It is possible that Comey’s new look into Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state reminded many swing voters of what polls show is Clinton’s weakest attribute: trust. No less than 62 percent of registered voters said in The Post-ABC News recent tracking poll they thought she was dishonest.
It’s also possible that the Comey announcement lowered enthusiasm and turnout among Democratic voters feeling meh about Clinton, like Bernie Sanders supporters, while boosting enthusiasm for independent and Republican-leaning voters by reminding them of how much they dislike Clinton. (Though we have yet to comb through those numbers.)
But as The Fix’s Aaron Blake wrote this week, we should consider any Comey effect with a heavy dose of skepticism. His announcement to Congress about finding emails “pertinent” to the Clinton email investigation accelerated a bump in polling that was already trending upward for Trump.
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