By the time the primary rolls around, this will be distant memory with the low information voters…same ones that can name the last ten American Idol winners.
Via Bloomberg
A Catch to political scientist Brendan Nyhan, who explains in detail why the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal won’t matter to the outcome of the presidential election:
Few Americans are paying attention to any aspect of the campaign at this point. Those who do notice will most likely divide largely along partisan lines, with Democrats interpreting her actions more charitably, especially once they see Republicans attacking Mrs. Clinton on the issue.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned from past presidential campaigns, it’s that most supposed game-changers like this quickly fade from the memory of the political class, having never been noticed by most Americans in the first place.
Remember, candidates and campaigns matter a lot in nomination politics, but much less in general elections (so long as both candidacies have similar resources). At that point, party is the most important factor, with the economy and other “fundamentals” such as war and peace having an important but secondary effect.
How do most voters deal with the avalanche of available information? Not by setting up rational lists of pros and cons (hmmm, I didn’t like the way she handled Benghazi, but I liked how she elevated women’s issues in the world). Most voters will cherry-pick information corresponding to their partisan views, so a Clinton supporter will cling to positive stories and try to ignore the negative ones (vice versa for her detractors).