With the announcement Sunday by the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign that she has pneumonia and will be taking a few days off from campaigning, a new UtahPolicy poll shows overwhelming support for both her and GOP candidate Donald Trump to release “complete” health care records.
Pollster Dan Jones & Associates finds in a just-completed survey that 83 percent of Utahns want the presidential candidates to release more information about their mental and physical health.
Fifteen percent disagree and say the candidates “definitely” or “probably” shouldn’t release “complete” personal health information.
And only 2 percent don’t know what the candidates should do.
Conservative talk radio and other Clinton critics have been harping about her health for several months now.
One archconservative TV personality ran edited clips of Clinton making it appear she was having a seizure, with her head snapping back and forth.
In fact, she was just laughing with supporters around her.
But the Democratic candidate’s health became a real issue Sunday, when she left early from a 9/11 memorial ceremony and was later photographed being helped, stumbling, into her Secret Service protection van.
Later Sunday, her campaign announced that Clinton was examined by her personal New York physician and is suffering from pneumonia, being treated for it, resting, and will miss a few days of campaigning.
As of now, she is scheduled to resume campaigning in Nevada on Wednesday.
Earlier Sunday, her press office said she suffered from being overheated at the 9/11 event and had dehydration.
Later Sunday the pneumonia diagnosis was released, leading to charges that once again Clinton is not forthcoming on unpleasant issues.
Trump’s health release letter – like much of his campaign – has become a bizarre incident in and of itself.
The letter, from his GI doctor, is short on substance and uses Trump-like expressions – like if elected he would be the healthiest U.S. president in history.
The doctor has been videotaped somewhat joking about how he drafted the letter in five minutes last December as a black Trump limo waited outside of his Manhattan office for the document.
Trump is 70, Clinton is 68, and either would be one of the oldest presidents ever elected.
Jones found, in a survey completed just before Clinton’s Sunday health issue, that Utahns across the political spectrum – who favor Trump, Clinton or someone else – want to know more about the health of the future president.
Some numbers:
- 84 percent of Utah Republicans want more detailed medical records released.
- 85 percent of Democrats agree.
- 81 percent of political independents also want more records made public.
Ever since Richard Nixon in the late 1960s, presidents, both as candidates and in office, have released somewhat detailed health records.
In 2008, GOP candidate Sen. John McCain – who suffered serious health issues while a POW in North Vietnam – released more than 1,100 pages of his medical history.
Trump has one page written by his GI doctor.
Clinton has released more records, but not as detailed as many previous presidential candidates.
She had a stomach virus several years ago, became dehydrated, fell and suffered a concussion, later complicated by a blood clot in her brain.
But her personal doctor says she has fully recovered and is fit to be president.
Neither Trump nor Clinton has shown any physical or mental incapacities on the long campaign trail over the last few months – except for Clinton staggering on Sunday.
It is unclear if either candidate will release more medical records before the Nov. 8 election.
In his latest survey, Jones polled 605 likely voters from Sept. 1-9. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.98 percent.
