Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is beginning to trail in the polls and lose key supporters. From her battle over healthcare policy with Bernie Sanders to her answer on whether she benefited from white privilege during the “Black and Brown” Forum that took place on Monday night, Clinton’s popularity among voters seems to be slipping away.
In the healthcare debate, Sanders is proposing a Medicare-for-all plan which would be paid for by users through taxes. While Clinton expresses dissatisfaction with this policy, saying that it would amount to unfair taxes to the middle-class, Sanders has provided evidence to the contrary.
“To Bernie Sanders with thanks for your commitment to real health care access for all Americans…”-@HillaryClinton pic.twitter.com/XMVPEx8fT8
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 13, 2016
As for Clinton, she plans to retain Obamacare but add her own personal strategies to lower Americans cost for healthcare, for instance applying for a $5000 tax credit if healthcare costs are excessive and limit consumer drug spending to $250 per month.
Clinton may have an answer on how to improve healthcare in America, but the same could not be said to how she responded to Thalia Anguiano, a junior at Duke University, who asked the presidential candidate, “Can you tell us what white privilege means to you and can you give me an example from your life or career when you think you have benefited from it?”
According to Huffington Post, Anguiano was not satisfied by Clinton’s answer and felt as though her question was not answered at all. Although Clinton made mention of her “white, middle-class, in the middle of America” upbringing, she also equated her success and elevation through life to being a “lucky person.”
In her anecdote, Clinton recalls her 11-years-old self babysitting the children of migrant workers and said she always noticed they lived “different” than she did, but she did not call or see that difference as anything in particular.
As for the numbers among primary voters, Clinton and Sanders are running neck and neck, but unlike Sanders, Clinton’s support from voters seems to be dramatically decreasing.
How the Democratic race in Iowa has tightened over time in @bpolitics/@DMRegister poll https://t.co/HZuAlHq1KL pic.twitter.com/OSsCnTIYWm
— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) January 14, 2016
"Women are leaving Hillary" https://t.co/N5Gud9EvdS pic.twitter.com/AubHROJB85
— The Hill (@thehill) January 12, 2016
If Clinton’s numbers continue to drop, especially in Iowa and New Hampshire, her journey back to the White House may not be to take her seat in the Oval Office after all.