US presidential candidates lie to win votes

As a close observer of several US presidential elections, I have found the 2016 race bemusing in both predictable and unpredictable ways.

The most baffling is that so many Americans say they support Hillary Clinton when various polls show that the majority think she is less honest and trustworthy compared with her rival, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

Honesty was everything for Americans when I travelled across the United States in the summer and fall of 1998 when the only topic was the lie President Bill Clinton told about Monica Lewinsky.