Hillary Clinton not honest and trustworthy, voters say, but still tops 2016 Republicans

Fifty-three percent of U.S. voters say former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is not honest and trustworthy, but she remains the undisputed frontrunner to secure the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination and also leads a handful of would-be Republican rivals.

Thirty-nine percent say she is honest and trustworthy, according to a Quinnipiac poll released Thursday.

But by a 60 percent to 37 percent margin, American voters do say she has strong leadership qualities. They’re divided, 48 percent percent to 47 percent, on whether she cares about their needs and problems.

Mrs. Clinton leads the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination with 57 percent of the vote, followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont at 15 percent and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. at 9 percent.

She also leads would-be Republican rivals in every head-to-head match-up, with Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida coming the closest. She leads Mr. Paul by 4 points, 46 percent to 42 percent, and she leads Mr. Rubio by 4 points, 45 percent to 41 percent.

Against other Republicans, she leads:

- 47 - 40 percent over former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee;

- 46 - 38 percent over Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker;

- 46 - 37 percent over New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie;

- 47 - 37 percent over former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush;

- 48 - 37 percent over Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas;

- 50 - 32 percent over businessman Donald Trump.

“Can you get low marks on honesty and still be a strong leader? Sure you can,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. “Hillary Clinton crushes her democratic rivals and keeps the GOP hoard at arm’s length.”

The survey of 1,711 registered voters was taken from May 19-26 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points. The survey included 748 Democrats with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points for that sample.