With the election being less than a week away, I am still not sure Clinton has accomplished getting the middle class over to her side. She needs to be seen as someone the voters can trust and can depend on and with the recent re-opening of her email case, her trustworthiness has come into question. Now, it may not be just the middle class votes she needs to be worrying about. I believe this definitely destroys her ethos as it takes away her credibility to truly be a fit, presidential candidate. She has definitely given Americans several reasons to question her credibility and trustworthiness. Is it possible to trust someone who is under investigation to honestly care for the middle class, or America in general?

According to recent polls, she no longer has the lead on Trump that she previously had. Clinton’s “once commanding national lead has collapsed to less than two points”. The way “Americans’ view her just hit a record low” as well with her un- favorability rating being 55.1 %.The foundation of her campaign and what she says she stands for, seems to be crumbling. With her foundation crumbling, the middle class as well as other voters are considering whether voting for her is the best choice and if she is fit to be the President of the United States. The middle class votes might be just what Clinton needs to tip the scale in her favor and become the President.  We will find out next Tuesday whether she has accomplished her goals and won over the middle class.

When it comes to appealing to the voters Hillary Clinton needs, she always takes one step forward and two steps back. She has used some effective and some not-so effective strategies to get the middle class vote. But when she decided to call half of the Trump supporters a “basket of deplorables” when speaking in New York for the Hillary Gala, she may have negatively affected her chances of gaining those votes. She presented her message to the audience present. It is possible she did not consider the message may reach a broader audience. Also because she was at her own rally, she may have thought she was in a safe-place to say her statement.

In a recent poll, it shows Trump losing middle-class rust belt voters to Clinton by a significant amount.  The poll shows Clinton ahead by 7 points. Although she is leading as of now in the rust belt states, if she continues to say offensive remarks about the middle class that trend may not continue especially with 56 percent of them viewing her as unfavorable. Her message seems to appeal to a narrow audience rather than the entire middle class.

One red state Clinton is trying to win over is Georgia. A democratic presidential candidate has not won the state of Georgia since Bill Clinton in 1992. Although it is a very tight race in Georgia, she may think she has a better chance in getting their votes because her husband was able to win over the voters in a normally Republican state. With the election being only a little over a week away, it will be interesting to see how the middle class votes, not just in Georgia, but everywhere.

One of Hillary Clinton’s main goals during her campaign is to make sure she appeals to the voters, specifically the middle class. Most commonly, she does this by making a commitment not to raise taxes. But with her track record of lying about many of her policies, many voters doubt her sincerity and truthfulness. It starts with Clinton’s definition of what middle class is. The middle class, defined by Clinton, “extends to those earning up to $250,000 a year”. But many of her plans she has proposed would seem to immediately affect those in the middle class. For example, college tuition. Clinton’s plan for college is to make it free and accessible for everyone. She states, “By 2021, families with income up to $125,000 a year will pay no tuition at in-state four-year public colleges and universities.” College would not really be free because it seems like the cost would be put on those who make more than $125,000 a year. And those would be people of the middle class and upper class. The tuition may be free but the cost would not be.

Clinton trying to appeal to voters seems to be going a little off track because she is being caught in many lies about her policies that are supposed to be specifically for the middle class. She is bringing down her own ethos by undermining her credibility as a candidate, which could potentially cost her some votes. And it seems to be an ineffective route to get into the oval office.

 

 

 

Hillary Clinton has continually discussed not raising taxes on middle class a single penny. She states that she understands the hardships of middle class citizens and wants nothing but to help them. What she states as a concrete statement has been turned around by her actions of actually endorsing tax increases that immediately affect the middle class. According to an article by John Kartch, former presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, actually “called out Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton’s endorsement of a soda tax…”stating that it “violates her pledge to the American people not to support any tax increase on Americans making less than $250,000 per year”. With her continually going back and forth on her word, it could began to affect how voters see her as untrustworthy. How are voters supposed to trust Clinton when she says one thing but does another?

Clinton could end up losing middle class voters as she continues to go back and forth on what she says and does about raising taxes on the middle class. Most American citizens want a president who can be trusted with their word and not go back on what they say. According to a NBC poll, only 11% of people view Clinton as “honest and trustworthy”. The effect of this and her actually endorsing certain taxes, could bring down her credibility as a presidential candidate. She has “endorsed several tax increases on middle income Americans despite her pledge not to raise taxes on Americans making less than $250,000”. Clinton also goes on to state that it is more of a “goal”, not anything concrete. It should be interesting to see what really happens if she is elected to be President in November.

 

Hillary Clinton’s campaign centers on bridging “the gap between the rich and poor” and portray her as someone who “understands the plight of the average working class”. In order to gain the support and votes of the middle class, Clinton has continually tried to portray herself as someone who grew up in a middle class lifestyle. She claims to know what the middle class is going through and is “vowing to fight for the middle class”. Clinton is one of the wealthiest people and “got that way profiting off of public service”. She claims to want to fight for the middle class but that is who she seems to be taking the money from. She may identify as a middle class citizen but her and her husband’s net worth of 52.7 million dollars, states otherwise. I guess it just depends on your definition of middle class.

She has not had an easy time trying to connect because she does live such an extravagant lifestyle. For example, she wore a jacket that was over $12,000 to a speech she gave about inequality. As much as she tries to relate to the middle class, her attempts do not seem to go the way she intends them to. This seems to be where the disconnect lies between Clinton and the middle class. Her actions do not reflect her words or the spirit of which she centers her campaign on, which can lead people to believe that she is not a trustworthy candidate for president.