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Though
Democrats just wrapped up what was largely considered to be a
successful convention, many top party members are concerned about
Hillary Clinton's sagging poll numbers.
The nominee remains behind her Republican counterpart, Donald Trump, who has been soaring in the polls and received a huge boost after officially accepting his party's nomination at the Republican National Convention, reports the Hill.
Party strategists and leaders worry that Clinton might not be popular at a time when most Americans decry "establishment" politics and believe that Washington is fraught with corruption and needs to be changed.
"The most important thing is there is a bias for change and there's an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll where people express that bias even when they don't know what the change is going to be," said pollster and former Clinton campaign staffer Geoff Garin.
The July survey Garin referenced found that 56 percent of Americans
said that they would favor a candidate promising change, even without
knowing what that change would be. The rise of many non-traditional or
non-politician presidential candidates, like Donald Trump and Bernie
Sanders, this election season is testament to this phenomenon, while
Clinton, a moderate Democrat with a long history of being "in the
establishment" and facing past allegations of corruption, is far from
the 2016 zeitgeist ideal, said one Democratic National Committee member
who requested to remain anonymous.
"I'm nervous," the committee member said. "The country is in a bad mood. It's such an unpredictable year."
Meanwhile, enthusiasm is growing among Republican Party officials, who also enjoyed a successful convention and lauded Trump for winning more votes in the Republican primary than any other candidate has in history. Meanwhile, Clinton received fewer votes this year than when she lost in 2008.
"I feel like we shouldn't be overly optimistic," said Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon. "Time and time again over this last year we thought Trump was done and he's not so let's treat him as an incredibly viable, capable opponent."
If the race remains neck-and-neck, there is one factor that could help Clinton – the electoral college. According to the Washington Post, the electoral vote count is set to favor Democrats this November, as all states expected to vote Democrat have a total of 217 electoral votes, while those expected to vote Republican have only 191 of the 270 votes needed to win.
The nominee remains behind her Republican counterpart, Donald Trump, who has been soaring in the polls and received a huge boost after officially accepting his party's nomination at the Republican National Convention, reports the Hill.
Party strategists and leaders worry that Clinton might not be popular at a time when most Americans decry "establishment" politics and believe that Washington is fraught with corruption and needs to be changed.
"The most important thing is there is a bias for change and there's an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll where people express that bias even when they don't know what the change is going to be," said pollster and former Clinton campaign staffer Geoff Garin.
"I'm nervous," the committee member said. "The country is in a bad mood. It's such an unpredictable year."
Meanwhile, enthusiasm is growing among Republican Party officials, who also enjoyed a successful convention and lauded Trump for winning more votes in the Republican primary than any other candidate has in history. Meanwhile, Clinton received fewer votes this year than when she lost in 2008.
"I feel like we shouldn't be overly optimistic," said Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon. "Time and time again over this last year we thought Trump was done and he's not so let's treat him as an incredibly viable, capable opponent."
If the race remains neck-and-neck, there is one factor that could help Clinton – the electoral college. According to the Washington Post, the electoral vote count is set to favor Democrats this November, as all states expected to vote Democrat have a total of 217 electoral votes, while those expected to vote Republican have only 191 of the 270 votes needed to win.
