Voters snubbing Clinton as GOP race heats up

The staff of The World and Everything in It has profiled 22 possible 2016 presidential candidates in its “White House Wednesday” series. Now they take a look at who’s ahead and who’s making moves as the big campaign gets closer.

Hard times for Hillary. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll this week showed that in less than two months’ time, the share of voters unfavorably viewing Hillary Clinton has jumped from 36 to 42 percent. Other recent polls show a majority of Americans do not believe her to be honest or trustworthy. The Republican National Committee released a new video this week titled, “You Can’t Trust Hillary.” And Tuesday, the official release of the book Clinton Cash by Peter Schweizer added to Clinton’s misery. That book chronicles the flow of money from foreign governments and business interests to Clinton family coffers.

But determined not to be caught on its heels, the Clinton campaign is going on the offense. Clinton spoke last night on immigration during a campaign event in Nevada, and she made headlines by endorsing a pathway to citizenship for those in the country illegally. While Clinton had been lying low politically, she now appears to be trying to drive her own narrative by staking out a position on a major issue like immigration.

New to the race. New GOP candidates Carly Fiorina and Dr. Ben Carson bring diversity to the Republican field as a credible female candidate and the only African-American candidate for president on either side.

Fiorina, a former tech CEO, comes out of Silicon Valley, which is overwhelmingly Democratic. Politics are practiced in big business, so she speaks that language. She learned throughout her career how to be diplomatic, how to work the media, and how to manage her message. And she gained invaluable experience running for U.S. Senate in California.

Carson is not a politician. He’s already had some pretty big gaffes and missteps. But he does have a base of passionate grassroots support to build on, something Fiorina does not have.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is probably the most recognizable Republican in the 2016 field and one of the most gifted communicators on either side of the aisle. Many fiscal conservatives call him a big-government Republican. Still, when he ran for president in 2008, many evangelical and conservative voters saw him as the candidate of choice. Of course, there are more big dogs in this race. He’s a serious candidate, but it’s an even taller task this time around.

Presidential power rankings. The presidential power rankings are a weekly snapshot of where the race for GOP presidential nominee stands right now. The top three candidates, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, remain entangled in a close race. Rubio and Bush are both vying for home-field advantage with the political power base in Florida, and Rubio and Walker occupy the same space within the party. The latter are both big bridge candidates who could appeal to the conservative and establishment wings of the GOP. If Walker falls, Rubio’s numbers likely will rise, and vice versa.

Listen to White House Wednesday on The World and Everything in It.