44 percent think Hillary Clinton ‘less ethical’ than most other politicians: poll

Forty-four percent of voters think former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is “less ethical” than most other politicians, according to a new poll — the highest percentage of any 2016 presidential candidate or potential candidate the Fox News poll asked about.

Twenty-nine percent said Mrs. Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential frontrunner, was more ethical than most and 24 percent said about the same.

Thirty-six percent thought former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who announced his presidential campaign, was more ethical than most other politicians, compared to 18 percent who said less ethical and 27 percent who said about the same.

Breakdowns for other GOP hopefuls were as follows for more, less or about the same, respectively:

• Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky — 33 percent, 20 percent, 30 percent;

• Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush — 26 percent, 28 percent, 35 percent;

• Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida — 26 percent, 19 percent, 33 percent;

• Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas — 23 percent, 25 percent, 30 percent;

• Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker — 22 percent, 18 percent, 29 percent;

• New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — 17 percent, 37 percent, 31 percent.

Mrs. Clinton has faced questions in recent months over her use of a private email system as secretary of state and donations that flowed to the Clinton Foundation during her time as the nation’s top diplomat.

Fifty-two percent of voters said they were following “very” or “somewhat” closely the recent news about the foundation’s accepting millions of dollars from foreign governments while she was serving as secretary of state, with 17 percent saying they were not following it very closely and 30 percent saying not at all.

Fifty-seven percent said it was at least somewhat likely Mrs. Clinton was influenced by foreign contributors as secretary of state, compared to 37 percent who said it was “not very” or “not at all” likely.

Twenty-nine percent said it should disqualify her from running for president, 31 percent said it’s a serious problem but not disqualifying, and 33 percent said it’s no big deal and people are just picking on the Clintons.

Sixty-one percent of voters were at least somewhat concerned that scandals would have a serious effect on Mrs. Clinton’s administration if she were elected president, compared to 38 percent who were either “not very” or “not at all” concerned.

Fifty-one percent, meanwhile, were “very” or “somewhat” concerned that scandals would have a serious effect on the next administration if a Republican were elected to the White House, compared to 46 percent who were “not very” or “not at all” concerned.

The survey of 1,006 registered voters was taken May 9-12 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.