Hillary mini-series: good programming or unfair advantage?

August 12, 2013, 7:01 PM GMT+0

Democrats and Republicans are on opposite sides of the aisle over whether a planned documentary and mini-series on Hillary Clinton will give her an unfair advantage in an election

Currently both NBC and CNN are working on projects about former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. NBC plans to create, in partnership with Fox, a miniseries about Clinton's life, while CNN is developing a documentary about her which will air in theaters before appearing on CNN. The projects have attracted heavy criticism from Republicans who claim they will give Clinton an advantage. RNC chairman Reince Priebus has called for his party to boycott 2016 presidential-primary debates on the networks.

New research from YouGov reveals that public attitude towards the proposed programs divides firmly along partisan lines.

Overall, 35% of Americans say that the movie and mini-series will give an unfair advantage to Hillary Clinton, if she were to decide to run in 2016. 38% say they will not give her an advantage.

Among Republicans, 57% say that the films will give Clinton an advantage and 26% say they will not. Only 14% of Democrats say the films will give Clinton an advantage, while 53% say they won't.

The survey also revealed why the networks would be interested in developing shows on Hillary Clinton, despite the potential controversy. A full 40% of Americans would be interested in watching either a documentary or a mini-series.

Predictably, interest in the movie divides again on partisan lines. 70% of Democrats would be interested in watching one of the programs on Hillary Clinton, while 82% of Republicans would not be.

Notably, only 27% of Independents would be interested in seeing one of the programs on Hillary Clinton, while 58% would not be interested.

NBC's mini-series on Clinton will reportedly star Diane Lane, while the documentary will be directed by Charles Ferguson, who most recently directed Inside Job.

Full results can be found here.

Image courtesy of Getty.

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