A new Politico poll out Monday morning found likely voters largely unimpressed with Hillary Clinton's record as secretary of state.
A full majority of the voters described the expected presidential candidate's tenure as somewhat lackluster — with 32% describing her performance as "poor" and 21% labeling it "fair." In contrast, 14% described her record as "excellent" and 28% called it "good."
The poll, which surveyed likely voters in districts with highly competitive House and Senate races, also found a partisan divide in how recipients judged Clinton's record. Just 12% of Republicans rated her tenure as "good" or "excellent." A wide majority — 79% — of Democrats rated her positively.
Clinton, the Democratic front-runner for president in 2016, has seen her record come under increased scrutiny as crises emerge in the Middle East, Russia, and elsewhere. Indeed, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida), a likely candidate on the Republican side of the aisle, has said her candidacy is vulnerable because she lacks a single signature achievement as secretary of state.
"The reset with Russia has been a disaster, the Middle East is more unstable today than it's been in I don't know when — and that's saying a lot — our relationships in Latin America and democracy has deteriorated in Latin America, the Chinese are increasingly aggressive, our partners around the world view us as less reliable," Rubio said in a July radio interview.