Most Americans Don't Care That Hillary Clinton Used a Private Email Account

One week after the New York Times revealed that Hillary Clinton exclusively used a personal email address during her time as secretary of state, most Americans have heard about the story. And they don't care.

According to the results of a Google Consumer Survey conducted by Mic, 59.3% of Americans say they are aware that Clinton used a personal account for conducting official business at the State Department:

Of those who answered that they knew about Clinton's email account, 79.4% responded that the revelation has not changed their opinion of the former secretary of state:

More than 95% of those who said that their opinion of Clinton had changed said they now view her more negatively because of the email controversy.

Respondents ages 18 to 24 were the least likely to have heard of Clinton's personal email, with just 40.4% saying they had heard of her personal account. Those 65 or older were most likely of any age group to have heard the story — 79.5% of older respondents said that they had:

The survey was conducted on March 9, with a total of 1,040 respondents and a margin of error of +/-3%. GCS is a tool developed by Google to poll Internet users, using demographic data to obtain a statistically significant random sampling of Americans to determine public opinion. GCS surveys were found to be among the most accurate predictors of the presidential election results in 2012.

The results of this poll come after a Pew Research Center found a stark partisan divide over which news stories Americans followed closely last week. Pew found that Republicans were more likely than Democrats to be following news of Clinton's email account, with 34% of Republicans saying they were following the story "very closely," compared to 16% of Democrats.

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Monday likewise found that the email revelations had done little to hurt Clinton's stance with Democrats. The survey found that 86% of Democratic primary voters said they could envisions themselves voting for Clinton, compared to 13% who said they could not.

Where the issue stands: All three polls are likely to bolster Clinton's defenders, many of whom have largely dismissed the uproar surrounding Clinton's use of a personal email account for official business. In a memorable remark last week, Democratic operative and longtime Clinton confidant Paul Begala summed up the Clinton camp's sentiments, telling Politico, "Find me one persuadable voter who agrees with [Clinton] on the issues but will vote against her because she has a non-archival-compliant email system and I'll kiss your ass in a Macy's window and say it smells like roses."

But while the flap over Clinton's emails has so far failed to strike a chord with voters, the story isn't likely to go away anytime soon. Clinton is expected to address the controversy in a press conference "in the next several days," according to Politico. Over the weekend, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R.-S.C.), the chairman of the committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attacks, said there were "huge gaps" in the emails Clinton turned over to his committee. Gowdy said last week that he will still pursue Clinton's personal emails through the subpoena process.

For now, though, the American people aren't that interested. Unless and until new revelations come to light, Clinton's emails don't seem to be resonating as an important issue to voters.