While a new CBS/New York Times poll shows Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in a dead heat at 40-40 in the wake of the decision not to prosecute her in the email scandal, initial anger on social media has dramatically dropped off.
Related: FBI’s Comey Makes It Clear: Hillary Clinton Is Above the Law
On July 5, FBI Director James Comey announced that the Bureau did not think Clinton should be prosecuted, but he publicly shamed her and her colleagues, saying “there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.”
A number of stories speculate that the results of the CBS/Times survey conducted from July 8-12 reflect fallout from the FBI investigation into Clinton’s use of private email to conduct official business while she was Secretary of State.
Social media sentiment and the Real Clear Politics average of recent national polls tell a different story.
Related: Investigating Clinton: How Many Millions Were Spent on Email, Benghazi Probes?
The RCP average has Clinton at 44 percent and Trump at 40.9 percent. Most of the 10 polls in that average have Clinton ahead by from 2 points to 6 points, but two have wildly different results. The Reuters/Ipsos poll taken July 2-6 puts Clinton ahead by 11 points; the Rasmussen Reports survey taken July 12-13 has Trump leading by 7 points.
And on the social-media sentiment site 30dB, Clinton’s positives over the past 14 days have gone from a furious low of 22 percent on July 9 to a more forgiving 44 percent today. At least part of that was a big Bernie bump. Positive sentiment started climbing after she was endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who had doggedly challenged her for the Democratic presidential nomination.
