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NEW YORK — Mrs Hillary Clinton’s advisers and Democratic supporters have expressed concern that the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) renewed attention to emails relating to the United States presidential candidate would turn some voters against her, hurt party candidates in competitive House of Representatives and Senate races, and complicate efforts to win over undecided Americans in the final days leading up to the Nov 8 election.
The paramount fear among Mrs Clinton’s advisers and Democratic officials was that an election that had become a referendum on rival Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s fitness for office, and that had increasingly seemed to be Mrs Clinton’s to lose, would now become just as much about her conduct.
In phone calls, email chains and text messages on Saturday, Mrs Clinton’s aides and allies were by turns confident that the FBI would find nothing to hurt her, and concerned that the inquiry would nudge demoralised Republicans to show up to cast ballots, however reluctantly, for the embattled Mr Trump.
“This is like an 18-wheeler smacking into us, and it just becomes a huge distraction at the worst possible time,” said Ms Donna Brazile, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee and a close ally of Mrs Clinton. “We don’t want it to knock us off our game. But on the second-to-last weekend of the race, we find ourselves having to tell voters, ‘Keep your focus; keep your eyes on the prize.’”
A poll of polls by tracker site RealClearPolitics on Saturday put Mrs Clinton 3.9 percentage points ahead of Mr Trump nationwide, down from 7.1 points just 10 days previously.
However, an election model published daily in The New York Times and based on various state and national surveys yesterday gave Mrs Clinton a resounding 91 per cent chance of winning the presidential vote.
Mrs Clinton’s campaign has been overshadowed from the start by allegations she put US secrets at risk by using a private server based in her home for all email correspondence as secretary of state.
In July, FBI director James Comey criticised Mrs Clinton’s handling of sensitive information but recommended no charges be brought. She appeared to be in the clear.
The matter was revived when Mr Comey wrote to lawmakers on Friday, announcing that his agents are investigating a newly discovered trove of emails, renewing an enquiry that the Clinton campaign thought ended in July. The probe was renewed after agents seized a laptop used by Mrs Clinton’s closest aide, Ms Huma Abedin, and her now estranged husband, former congressman Anthony Weiner, who resigned in 2011 and is currently under investigation over allegations he sent sexual overtures to a 15-year-old girl.
Mrs Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook has sought to play down the impact of the revived email scandal. “We don’t see it as changing the landscape,” he said, boasting that her supporters were, if anything, fired up by the battle.
In a polarised country where many are unwaveringly contemptuous of either Mr Trump or Mrs Clinton, the latest development in the email story prompted a mix of shrugs and renewed determination from the left and told-you-so claims of Mrs Clinton’s perfidy from the right.
Although there are some undecided voters, about 20 million Americans have already cast ballots in early voting, and millions more long ago concluded which candidate they would support.
“My mind was made up,” said Mr Luis Luaces, 57, a Florida Republican as he cast his ballot for Mr Trump on Saturday in Miami. “I know what the Clintons are about.”
For the Republicans, they were exultant to at least get off the defensive, especially since the Democrats were wielding Mr Trump’s unpopularity like a weapon to make gains in the House.
But several Republican pollsters and strategists said that given Mr Trump’s weakness, the FBI inquiry was more likely to help the party’s candidates for the House and Senate than to transform the political fortunes of the billionaire.
“To the extent this affects relative enthusiasm among Republicans and Democrats, it helps down-ballot Republicans,” said Mr Whit Ayres, a pollster advising one such candidate seeking re-election, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Referring to Mrs Clinton’s lead over Mr Trump in recent polls, Mr Ayres added: “The margin at the top of the ticket is large enough so that it probably takes an indictment, rather than an investigation, to move those numbers sufficiently.”
While few Republicans were willing to argue that Mr Comey’s letter could revive Mr Trump, they said that the new revelations dovetailed with a message they were already pushing: that Democratic candidates would only enable Mrs Clinton’s instinct for secrecy and not hold her accountable.
“It boosts the check-and-balance argument because it is a reminder of all of the things voters hate about Clinton,” said Mr Rob Simms, executive director of the House Republicans campaign arm. AGENCIES