The “stamina,” the “look”: A new poll suggests voters are buying in to Donald Trump’s insinuations about Hillary Clinton’s health.
Voters — especially men — have more confidence that Trump is healthy enough for the presidency than Clinton, according to the Associated Press-GfK poll.
It shows the political points Trump scored after the Democratic nominee’s much-publicized mild case of pneumonia.
The AP-GfK poll found 51 percent of voters are very or extremely confident that Trump is healthy enough to be president. In contrast, just over a third of voters — 36 percent — had the same confidence in Clinton’s health.
Men are more likely to question Clinton’s physical fitness for the job, with 45 percent saying they’re only slightly or not at all confident compared to 34 percent of women. Men and women are about equally likely to express confidence in Trump’s health. More Democrats are confident of Trump’s health than Republicans are of Clinton’s.
Health is a legitimate issue as the nation is poised to elect one of its oldest presidents. Trump, 70, for months held off disclosing much about his own fitness while stoking questions about a woman in the White House with his assertion, repeated on national TV Monday, that Clinton lacks the look and stamina for the job. (As for his apparent sniffles during Monday’s debate, he blamed a bad microphone.)
“Stamina is a code word for maybe not physically up to the job,” said New York University bioethicist Arthur Caplan, who has called for an independent panel to certify the health of presidential candidates. “There’s something of a bias about men versus women that subtly Trump has played to, that men are more fit, tough enough to do the job.”
Clinton, 68, last year released more detail about her own health history only to buy trouble earlier this month by refusing to take a sick day until a public stumble forced her to reveal the pneumonia diagnosis. But Monday she rebutted Trump’s talk of stamina by wondering if he could match her grueling schedule as a secretary of state — traveling to 112 countries, negotiating peace deals, spending 11 hours testifying before a congressional committee.
What exactly do we know about their health? Neither has released their actual medical records, just a summary from their personal physicians with no way to know if anything important was left out.
Yet another disconnect: The AP-GfK poll found nearly 4 in 10 voters don’t consider such a release important, and another 2 in 10 say it’s only moderately important.
Trump’s gastroenterologist in December released a four-paragraph letter saying the GOP nominee would be “the healthiest individual ever elected.” Earlier this month, Trump took to “The Dr. Oz Show” to say he felt great, while releasing a bit more detail, such as his cholesterol levels and cancer screenings.
Bottom line: Trump takes a cholesterol-lowering statin medication and a baby aspirin, has some mild plaque in his arteries and is overweight — but was declared generally in good health.
Last summer, Clinton’s internist released a two-page letter detailing her family history, prior exams including lab test results, and some prior ailments that have healed — including a 2012 concussion and blood clot Clinton suffered after becoming dehydrated from a stomach virus and fainting. This month, a second letter outlined the mild pneumonia and revealed some updated check-up results.
Bottom line: Clinton takes a blood thinner as a precaution given a history of blood clots, as well as a thyroid medication and allergy relievers — but also was declared generally in good health.
Some doctors say just watching how the candidates handle a physically demanding campaign trail and the cognitive finesse needed to debate can give voters a good idea of health.
But while the public may not pay attention to cholesterol tests and EKGs, it was hard to miss that image of Clinton stumbling.
“The public is feeding off the impressions they’ve received, but that’s not borne out by the letters of health,” said Dr. Howard Selinger, chair of family medicine at Quinnipiac University.
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The AP-GfK Poll of 1,694 adults, including 1,476 registered voters, was conducted online Sept. 15-19, using a sample drawn from GfK’s probability-based KnowledgePanel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, and for registered voters is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.
Respondents were first selected randomly using telephone or mail survey methods and later interviewed online. People selected for KnowledgePanel who didn’t have access to the internet were provided access for free.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
james schnarr says
I have travelled extensively all over the globe (and slept for hours on airplanes). Its what you accomplish after you arrive that is important and Hillary’s accomplishments are few and far between,
El Tejas says
Any insinuations by Trump have little to do with peoples perceptions about Hillary’s health. It is all those public episodes of coughing, dizzy spells, fainting , memory lapses, and being unable to recall important information when being interviewed. Then there is her need for long rest periods between appearances. While she appeared relaxed and rested Monday night, she has often appeared in public looking worn and tired. If she can not take the pressure of the campaign trail how would she ever stand up to the pressure of being President?
Connie Soles says
All presidential candidates should have a complete physical performed by two independent doctors and results made public. POTUS is the most important person in the world. If Hilary agreed to such scrutiny, the public would demand that she end her campaign.
Jess says
On NBC news last Friday when the Russian news media asked a Putin cabinet member about the presidential candidates of the U.S..
He was quoted on national T.V. Saying, Mrs Clinton was not eligible for the Presidency because of her advanced disease of Parkinson’s, that she was diagnosed with in 2012,
II couldn’t believe what I was hearing, but, after all the cyber hacking that might give good reason to Beleive since she was recorded having seizures while giving press briefing.. So
That’s the secret everyone’s trying to hide.. But if I seen it on TV someone else had to see it also. So I guess Fox News will get an update by a trump supporter soon.
Arthur Rosson Jr. says
She is not well and it shows up many times,the fact that she is on blood thinners also shows her blood clot was treated not cured,a good indicator of how ill,she is was the so called trip as she was entering her van,it was NOT a trip,she started to faint.
She will not last long if she becomes president
there are to many seen indicators of her health.
Jeanette says
(As for his apparent sniffles during Monday’s debate, he blamed a bad microphone.)
The defective microphone has been confirmed by the officials overseeing the debate.