Beyond the Poll Numbers, Voter Doubts About Clinton

Polls show Sen. Hillary Clinton as the leading Democratic presidential choice. (By Jay Laprete -- Bloomberg News)

Others said they see a persona too calibrated. "There's no question she's competent and very intelligent, but people want to see authentic human beings, and she has overly managed herself," said Peter Brooks, 68, a professor of English at the University of Virginia and a liberal Democrat who has an unfavorable view of Clinton.

Some Clinton advisers acknowledge these doubts and say they can be diffused if she runs by reintroducing her values and biography to a national electorate. They maintain that negative opinions often reflect misperceptions about her. Paid media and free media would give her opportunities to reacquaint herself with voters (she hasn't appeared on a Sunday talk show in more than a year). And the enormous popularity of her husband, former president Bill Clinton, is also part of the equation, some said.

"Many know of her but don't know her -- so the more they get to know her directly, the more they learn that what she does and what she stands for is what they are looking for," said Mark Penn, a longtime adviser and pollster for both Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton.

Still, supporters say the powerful scrutiny she faces means that, far more than the typical politician, she has little room for public error or spontaneity, since even casual comments often draw national headlines. In addition, some political analysts believe that politicians who are women must work harder to be perceived as strong and serious.

Finally, those who have worked with her say that, unlike her husband, who easily conveys empathy and familiarity, Clinton is instinctively more reserved and harder to get to know.

The result is a public portrait of Clinton as highly self-contained. In an era when images of politicians biking or jogging are used to give them another dimension, she is rarely seen doing anything personally revealing.

Rhodes Cook, an independent political consultant who studies voting trends, maintains that, for the most part, "voters do have to find some kind of connection with candidates personally."

"All things being equal, style trumps substance in many ways," he said.

The hope among her advisers is that she can do nationally what she did in New York in 2000. Then, she faced questions about why she was running in a state where she had never previously lived, and whether she was interested in the job solely as a springboard to the presidency. Clinton also faced more piercing questions -- including from many women -- about the state of her marriage in the wake of the Monica S. Lewinsky scandal. Was she staying with her husband simply for politics?

She quieted the doubts through relentless public appearances, old-fashioned retail politics on main streets and at local fairs, and paid advertising.

She eventually won with 55 percent of the vote, including what exit polls showed was 60 percent of female voters. These days, according to the Post-ABC News poll, 59 percent of women nationally have a favorable view of her, and among 18-to-35-year-old women, a notable 73 percent view her favorably. The flip side is that men are significantly more likely to say they would not vote for her.

Brian Tripplett, 47, a Democrat and a United Parcel Service manager from Kentucky, says he has a strongly unfavorable view of Clinton based on impressions 15 years old. "It seems that her public image is different from her private image. It bothered me when I read she was verbally abusive to employees," he said.