Democrats are far less interested in the email scandal plaguing Hillary Clinton than their Republican counterparts, according to a new poll.
A Pew Research survey released Monday shows only 16 percent of Democrats were following the news that Clinton exclusively used a private email account for official business while secretary of State.
{mosads}An even smaller amount of independents, 11 percent, are following the story.
By contrast, Pew found 34 percent of Republicans are closely following the news, with 44 percent of conservative Republicans following it closely.
Critics have jumped on the news that Clinton used a private account rather than an official government-issued email address. They say the move could have skirted rules governing federal records keeping.
But Clinton’s supporters have said the controversy does not matter to voters and say the former secretary of State broke no laws.
Clinton, who is preparing to run for president, has turned over thousands of emails from her private account at the State Department’s request.
Following revelations of the private account last week, Clinton tweeted that she wanted the public to see her emails and asked that the State Department release them — a process that could take months.
Aside from that tweet last week, Clinton has been largely silent on the issue. She did not address the issue during a public appearance Monday, her second event since the story broke.
The poll surveyed 1,000 adults from March 5-8 and has a margin of error of 3.5 percent.