Andi Zeisler, New York Times – September 10, 2016
For more than 20 years in American politics, Mrs. Clinton has embodied what we might call Classic Bitch. She’s perceived as an interloper who challenges or threatens masculinity, entitlement and a status-quo worldview; she’s the scandal magnet who can seem as heartless and venal as any old-boy’s-club member. Worst of all, she’s the woman who accepts that she will be disliked and carries on anyway.
Linda Feldmann, Christian Science Monitor – August 13, 2016
Why is Clinton so challenged on the likability front? Women voters blame sexism, echoing the findings of political scientists who say women candidates are more constrained in their behavioral options than men, because of gender norms. Female politicians, for example, have to be careful not to get too “huggy” with voters.
Susan Milligan, US News and World Report – August 5, 2016
Despite her resume of both private-sector and public-sector endeavors, not to mention her work on civil rights and for children, Clinton watched as a charismatic but less-experienced freshman senator won the nomination and the presidency. True, Clinton was up against another barrier-breaking candidate in Barack Obama, one whose message of hope and change seemed at the time to be a welcome salve on the open partisan wounds that were keeping Washington from working. But perhaps most frustrating for the candidate was the criticism levied by political pundits and armchair sociologists: she just wasn’t “likeable.”
Emily Crockett, Vox – August 4, 2016
National Memo put together a video compiling nearly 40 years of sexist questions asked of Hillary Clinton during interviews and debates. The result is illuminating, and infuriating. It shows how painfully bad America was at dealing with women in public life even just 20 years ago — and how bad at it we often still are.
Jay Newton-Small, TIME – May 25, 2016
GOP nominee-presumptive Donald Trump and likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton are entering a general election with the highest and second-highest disapproval ratings of any candidates of either party, respectively. Ever. But while few people worry about whether Trump is likable, Democrats and pundits have spent the week fretting about why Clinton isn’t liked more.
David Brooks, New York Times – May 24, 2016
I understand why Donald Trump is so unpopular. He earned it the old-fashioned way, by being obnoxious, insulting and offensive. But why is Hillary Clinton so unpopular?
Jessica Roy, New York Magazine – The Cut – May 24, 2016
In a stunning feat of investigative journalism, New York Times columnist David Brooks has finally determined exactly why the American people find Hillary Clinton so unlikable. It’s because she doesn’t have any hobbies. Hmm. That doesn’t seem right.
Chris Cillizza, Washington Post – May 16, 2016
Clinton has struggled for the past eight years to convince voters that she is a regular person who can connect with them. It seems unlikely she will be able to solve that problem in the five-plus months left before the 2016 general election. She probably won’t have to in order to win though. Why? Two words: Donald Trump. If Clinton has a likability problem, Trump has a likability epidemic.
Jay Newton-Small, TIME – April 13, 2016
In recent weeks, Bernie Sanders has taken a harsher tone with Hillary Clinton, calling her “unqualified” to be president, saying she’s too “ambitious” and going after her position on fracking, the Iraq war and Wall Street cronyism. An outside Sanders group even began posting the home addresses and contact information for superdelegates supporting Clinton in an attempt to swing them towards Sanders.
Amber Phillips, Washington Post – March 31, 2016
Luckily for Clinton (and every other woman aspiring to public office), there are tangible ways female politicians can convince voters they’re both qualified and likable. That’s according to the nonpartisan Barbara Lee Family Foundation, which attempts in a new study to pinpoint exactly how voters measure this hazy, intangible quality of likability among women officeholders, so they could give such advice.