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Hillary Clinton on Tuesday told ABC News David Muir that using a personal email account while Secretary of State was a mistake and that she is sorry for it.

I do think I could have and should have done a better job answering questions earlier. I really didnt perhaps appreciate the need to do that, the democratic presidential candidate told Muir in an exclusive interview in New York City. "What I had done was allowed, it was above board. But in retrospect, as I look back at it now, even though it was allowed, I should have used two accounts. One for personal, one for work-related emails. That was a mistake. Im sorry about that. I take responsibility.

This is the farthest Clinton has gone yet in offering an apology for her use of a private email server while Secretary of State.

Clinton told the Associated Press on Monday that she would not apologize for it because what I did was allowed.

When asked by Muir to clarify if she did feel she made a mistake by using her private account, Clinton conceded she did.

I did, I did, Clinton said. As I said, it was allowed and there was no hiding it. It was totally above board. Everybody in the government I communicated, and that was a lot of people, knew I was using a personal email. But Im sorry that it has, you know, raised all of these questions. I do take responsibility for having made what is clearly not the best decision.

While Secretary of State, Clinton used a private email server based out of her home in Chappaqua, New York to send and receive work-related emails. Her decision to do so has raised questions over classified material.

Clinton has since turned over more than 55,000 pages of emails from her email server to the State Department, which are being released in batches. (Clintons team deemed roughly 31,000 emails to be "personal and private. Those were not turned over and have since been deleted.)

Last month, Clinton also turned over her private server and thumb drive to the Justice Department amid a federal investigation into the security of the server and whether there was classified information in the emails from the private account she was using.

On Tuesday, Clinton maintained that she did not send or receive classified material on the account and reiterated she is trying to be as transparent as possible in her handling of the email controversy.

Clintons interview, her first national television interview with an evening news anchor since launching her campaign five months ago, comes after a rocky summer where she faced growing scrutiny over her use of a private email account and dropping poll numbers.

A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 53 percent of Americans now see Clinton unfavorably, up 8 points since midsummer.

Even so, Clinton remains optimistic about the future of her campaign.

When asked by Muir if she will be able to survive the email controversy dogging her campaign, Clinton said she has no doubt that I can survive it.

Of course I can, she said. I, as you might guess, have been around a while and there have been lots of, you know, attacks and counter-attacks and questions raised. And I can survive it because I think Im running to be president to do what the country needs done. And I believe the American people will respond to that.

Muir asked Clinton if there is ever an instance where she asks herself, "Why am I doing this again?"

"Of course. Because it's really hard," Clinton explained. "It's something that just demands everything. Physically, emotionally, spiritually. It is just 24/7."

Despite the challenging days on the campaign trail, however, Clinton told Muir shes still having a good time.

Its hard, but its fun, Clinton said. Most of the things that are hard in life are fun.

Clinton mentioned one of her great, favorite lines from the 1992 movie A League of Their Own, about a professional all-female baseball league, which gives her inspiration.

Tom Hanks playing the broken down, drunken coach confronts the player that said, Look, its just so hard, Clinton explains. "And he says, Its supposed to be hard. If it wasnt hard, anybody could do it.

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Hillary Clinton on Private Email: That Was a Mistake. Im ...

During an interview with ABC News, Hillary Clinton apologized for using a private e-mail server during her time as secretary or state. Here are past statements where the presidential hopeful neglected to take personal responsibility for the controversy. (The Washington Post)

This post has been updated.

A day after again declining to apologize for her use of a private e-mail system while she was secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton told an interviewer Tuesday that the arrangement was a mistake and that she is "sorry" for it.

As I look back at it now, even though it was allowed, I should have used two accounts. That was a mistake. Im sorry about that. I take responsibility, Clinton said in an interview withABC News.

The statement was the furthest Clinton has gone in showing remorse for the arrangement, which mingled her work and personal communications and kept them outsidethe regular State Department e-mail system. The FBI is investigating whether the system, maintained on a privately owned computer server at Clinton'sNew York home, jeopardized classified information.

In interviews Friday with NBC and Monday with the Associated Press, Clinton haddeclined to apologize, even as she said the arrangement was a poor choice that she regrets. She told NBC interviewer Andrea Mitchell that she is sorry the issue is confusing for people, but insisted that she had done nothing wrong.

She would not apologize, she told the AP, because what I did was allowed.

Republican critics had begun to use the question of an apology against her, undermining the campaign's plan to address thecomplex e-mail issue more directly and with greater humility. Questions about the private system have contributed to Clinton's slide in the polls, with more people saying they do not trust her.

A Washington Post/ABC News poll this monthfound that 53 percent of Americans now see Clinton unfavorably. That rating rose by8 percentage points since earlier in the summer, tipping the balance to a majority of Americans now seeing her in an unfavorable light.

Clinton turned over copies of roughly 30,000 e-mails atthe State Department's request late last year, nearly two years after she left office. At the same time she directed that a slightly larger number of e-mails stored on the server be destroyedbecause she deemed them personal and not part of her government business. Initially she refused to turn over the server, but did so in August.

Clinton told ABC that shedid not send or receive classified material on the account and saidshe is trying to be as transparent as I possibly can.

Late Tuesday, the campaign sent a message to supporters in Clinton's name reiterating the apology. Donors and activists have been complaining to the campaign headquarters for weeks that the e-mail issue was being mishandled, and it largely is their concern and disappointment Clinton is trying to head off.

"I wanted you to hear this directly from me," this e-mailed statement to supporters said. "Yes, I should have used two email addresses, one for personal matters and one for my work at the State Department. Not doing so was a mistake. I'm sorry about it, and I take full responsibility."

Clinton went on to stress, as she regularly does, that her personal account was "aboveboard," and that "nothing I ever sent or received was marked classified at the time. "

Despite the campaigns effort to more directly confront its problems stemming from the e-mail saga, Clintons own reckoning with it still seemed grudging.

In March, she insisted that she had done everything by the State Department book and had nothing for which to answer; last month she said that she gets it that voters have questions. That was a significant shift as was the decision to stop insisting the controversy was a manufactured Republican hit job.

But until now, Clinton had always said that although she would make a different choice today, there was nothing inherently wrong with setting up the system as she did.

Clintons reversal on making an apology echoed the protracted 2008 campaign discussion of whether she would say she was wrong or sorry about her Senate vote in support of the Iraq war.

In both cases, Clinton adopted a narrow and somewhat lawyerly stance at first, then came to a more direct show of remorse.

Anne Gearan is a national politics correspondent for The Washington Post.

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"I'm not going to address any of the political questions around my friend Joe Biden," Clinton said in an MSNBC interview with Andrea Mitchell. "He has to make a really difficult decision. You can see him struggling with it, and I just wish the best for him and his family."

In the wide-ranging interview, Clinton said she intended to give Biden room to make up his mind, and others should do the same.

"If he gets into this race, there'll be plenty of time to get into the debate and the back and forth, but I think everyone should give him the space and respect he deserves to make what is a very difficult choice for him and his family," Clinton said.

RELATED: Biden: I 'would not hesitate'

Clinton is leading most polls but she's facing big questions about whether the controversy surrounding her private email use at the State Department will hurt her ability to win the White House. Her comments on Biden followed a speech the Vice President gave Thursday in Atlanta, in which he said he "would not hesitate" to launch a campaign if he thought it could be "viable."

Biden's son, Beau, died earlier this year and the Vice President was clear that his family was the most important factor in deciding whether to launch a campaign.

"I will be straightforward with you. The most relevant factor in my decision is whether my family and I have the emotional energy to run," Biden said. "The honest to God answer is I just don't know."

The fallout from Clinton's private email server dominated the interview. The former secretary of state twice declined to outright apologize for using a private email server when she was secretary of state, though she did apologize for any confusion it might have caused.

"I am sorry that this has been confusing to people and has raised a lot of questions," Clinton said, saying earlier in the interview, "I certainly wish that I had made a different choice and I know why the American people have questions about it and I want to make sure that I answer those questions."

RELATED: Would Hillary Clinton be this bold today?

Clinton's use of private email has become a major talking point in the campaign, with Republicans criticizing her as untrustworthy and dishonest and the issue has hurt her in polls. The matter is being investigated by congressional committees and the Justice Department, which is probing whether classified information was transmitted over the private server.

Meanwhile on Friday, Gallup released a new poll that put Clinton at one of her worst favorability ratings in more than 20 years. Americans view Clinton 41% favorably to 51% unfavorably, Gallup found.

She had a 74% favorability rank among Democrats.

Clinton said she realizes now the decision to have a personal instead of official email at the State Department was not the right one, but she defended herself as trustworthy.

"My personal email use was fully above board," Clinton said.

She said she realizes she should have two accounts, but said she's released all the work-related emails and is looking forward to testifying in public before Congress this fall.

RELATED: Hillary Clinton's emails: What you need to know

She also said reviews have confirmed "over and over" that she "did not send or receive any material marked classified."

Emails have retroactively been determined to have classified information in them, but it's not clear if those emails were known to be classified at the time.

Repeatedly asked why she made the choice to use personal email, Clinton said it wasn't something she spent much time considering in the moment.

"You know, I was not thinking a lot when I got in, there was so much work to be done, we had so many problems around the world, I didn't really stop and think, what kind of email system will there be?" Clinton said.

Clinton also responded to recent polling that showed Americans associate the terms untrustworthy and liar with her name.

"Well it certainly doesn't make me feel good, but I am very confident that by the time this campaign has run its course, people will know that what I've been saying is accurate," she said.

Mitchell also engaged Clinton in a lightning round of questions. One was text or email, which Mitchell acknowledged may not be the most appropriate question.

Laughing, Clinton declared: "Email!"

The Republican National Committee was quick to jump on the interview, saying it showed Clinton's shortcomings.

"What's clear is Hillary Clinton regrets that she got caught and is paying a political price, not the fact her secret email server put our national security at risk," RNC spokesman Michael Short said in a statement. "Hillary Clinton's repeated distortions of her growing email scandal, which now involves an FBI investigation, and her refusal to apologize only reinforce why three-fifths of the country doesn't trust her."

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Clinton: Biden 'struggling' with possible run - CNNPolitics.com

In an exclusive interview with NBC News/MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell on Friday, Hillary Clinton said she's "sorry" there's been so much controversy over her private email server, but declined to apologize for the decision to use it. She also suggested that GOP front-runner Donald Trump is unqualified to be president and weighed in on the surprisingly robust challenge to her candidacy from Democratic primary rival Bernie Sanders.

"At the end of the day, I am sorry that this has been confusing to people and has raised a lot of questions, but there are answers to all these questions," Clinton said of her email server after being pressed by Mitchell on whether she should apologize for the controversy that has dogged her campaign from the outset. "And I take responsibility and it wasn't the best choice."

It was just the third nationally televised interview for Clinton, the former secretary of state and Democratic 2016 front-runner, since announcing her campaign in April.

Beset by flagging approval ratings, the Sanders challenge and the possibility that Vice President Joe Biden may enter the race, Clinton's interview with Mitchell appeared to be part of her campaign's latest effort to offer more access to the candidate.

Yet as her own campaign chairman John Podesta acknowledged in a conference call with reporters Thursday, Clinton's campaign has faced "headwinds" since March, when her private email server was first revealed. Her poll numbers have fallen as the number of people who consider her untrustworthy has risen.

"Certainly, it doesn't make me feel good," Clinton said when asked by Mitchell about those who find her dishonest. "But I am very confident that by the time this campaign has run its course, people will know that what I have been saying is accurate."

After laughing off questions about her server for months, Clinton has begun to strike a more contrite tone.

She explained that she had used a personal email account as a senator from New York and didn't spend much time considering alternatives when she became secretary of state in 2009. "I did all my business on my personal email [in the Senate]," Clinton said. "I was not thinking a lot when I got in [to the State Department]. There was so much work to be done. We had so many problems around the world. I didn't really stop and think what kind of email system will there be."

"This was fully above board, people knew I was using a personal email, I did it for convenience. I sent emails that I thought were work related to people's dot gov accounts," she added.

Asked by Mitchell about Trump's attacks on longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin, Clinton said the Republican's candidacy is "a bad development for our American political system" and that his bravado could have dangerous repercussions if he became president.

"Loose talk, threats, insults -- they have consequences," she said. "The president of the United States needs to be careful about what he or she says.

She went to say that Trump is "great at innuendo and conspiracy theories and really defaming people."

"He is the candidate of being against," she continued.

Trump and fellow Republican candidate Ted Cruz will hold a rally opposing President Barack Obama's nuclear agreement with Iran next week at the same time Clinton will be defending it in a speech in Washington. Asked about that, Clinton suggested that Trump and Cruz "don't believe in diplomacy" and said Americans want a president who does.

Clinton planned to deliver remarks on the Iran deal next week in Washington. "It is by no means perfect, but it's an important step," Clinton told Mitchell, adding that Iran "can never, ever have a nuclear weapon."

The Democratic front-runner has avoided getting into tangles with her primary opponents, and refused to weigh in on the political ramifications of Vice President Joe Biden's potential decision to the enter race.

But asked about why voters find Biden and challenger Bernie Sanders more authentic than Clinton, the former secretary of state seemed to take subtle dig at Sanders. "I started out listening because I think you can come with your own ideas and you can wave your arms and give a speech, but at the end of the day, are you connecting with and really hearing?" she said.

Aides have promised that Clinton in the coming weeks would take on a greater focus on women and stress her own role as a potential woman president. She appeared to make good on that promise with Mitchell, saying her candidacy was part of an career-long commitment to help women and girls around the world.

"My running for president is a way of sending a message we have an opportunity to lift up everyone," Clinton said.

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That's despite 125 of those emails -- which weren't classified at the time -- being retroactively classified before they were released. All or portions of some unclassified emails are redacted, too.

The emails show Clinton was a little obsessed with criticism from Fox News, once closely tracked a trade dispute involving gefilte fish and was eager to check out NBC's "Parks and Recreation" and CBS' "The Good Wife."

RELATED: Chris Christie attacks Clinton on emails

They highlight her close relationship with Sidney Blumenthal and even feature an IT staffer trying to figure out why her email -- which wasn't a government one -- was causing bounce-backs.

Here are some of the most interesting notes included in Friday's release:

Clinton has said the emails with foreign policy advice from long-time friend Sidney Blumenthal were unsolicited. That might be true -- but she certainly took them seriously, even thanking him for sending them at one point. She also told Blumenthal that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, loves his analysis.

"Thx for helping keep me informed along the way," she wrote in response to a Blumenthal note about the United Kingdom.

In another, Clinton tells Blumenthal that she "Just had drinks w Miliband who is still very worried" about the 2010 elections in the United Kingdom.

She even asked to have a New York Times op-ed Blumenthal forwarded printed and delivered to her house.

If the Clintons liked what Blumenthal had to say, House Speaker John Boehner might not. In one memo, he told Clinton insurgent House Republicans "are repelled by his personal behavior. He is louche, alcoholic, lazy."

One of the State Department's "Help Desk Analysts" noticed that one government emailer had been getting bounce-backs from Clinton's address.

That analyst emailed Clinton directly, appearing not to know who he was contacting, asking her to confirm that she'd received it.

Aide Huma Abedin explained what had happened, noting that a staffer had tried to contact Clinton but noticed her email was down and asked IT for help.

Abedin wrote to Clinton: "She called the email help desk at state (I guess assuming u had state email) and told them that. They had no idea it was YOU, just some random address so they emailed. Sorry about that."

Others knew Clinton's address. In May 2010, Clinton sent Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and a trusted adviser to President Barack Obama, an email with the subject line: "Here it is!" The email appeared intended to give Rice Clinton's contact information.

One email from Clinton contains the subject line "Gefilte fish."

The entire content of the email: "Where are we on this?"

It's not as bizarre as it sounds. The message is related to nine containers of the Passover favorite that were supposed to be shipped from Illinois to Israel but had become embroiled in a trade dispute.

Rep. Donald Manzullo, an Illinois Republican, had asked Clinton at a House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting to look into it. Meeting Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Clinton joked that despite the intractable problems the United States and Israel face, "This one we might be able to solve."

It isn't just the much-discussed classified emails that are redacted. Despite the public disclosure mandate driving the email dumps, much is left to the imagination. That includes from the mundane -- the obscuring of a cell phone number or an email address -- to matters of diplomacy.

In one instance, a draft of Clinton's testimony on the New START treaty before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is entirely redacted, though of course the final version is now a part of the public record.

Another email consisted of talking points to prepare for a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but all the text was blocked out.

Countless other examples of redactions exist in the email tranche.

Anne-Marie Slaughter, then the State Department's director of policy planning, sent notes about the struggles of balancing a career and a family -- particularly for mothers. In one, to aide Huma Abedin but directed at Clinton, Slaughter encourages her go forward with plans to start a winter vacation on December 21.

"I would urge you to -- for your own sake. The pace is absolutely killing and you deserve it. But it will also mean that a lot of folks who would like to take some time off with their family before Xmas (e.g. moms like me who are necessary to make Xmas happen) would feel much freer to do so," Slaughter wrote.

She also thanks Clinton for taking a snow day in February 2010.

"Your staying home tomorrow will make lots of parents at higher levels feel ok about staying home with their kids. I may be one of them!" Slaughter wrote.

Clinton displayed a fondness for then-Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley during his 2010 re-election campaign, though the two are now rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Clinton wrote her ally Barbara Mikulski, Maryland's senator in April 2010 to congratulate her on kicking off her re-election bid and asked the senator for an update on her state's governor, who was also running for his own new term.

"How's our friend, Martin, doing? I know he has a rematch when he should be reelected by acclamation for steering the ship of state so well. Pls give him my best wishes," she wrote.

O'Malley was the second governor to endorse Clinton in her 2008 run, but since launching his presidential campaign has been increasingly critical of Clinton.

Clinton seemed particularly interested in -- and irritated by -- Fox News.

She wonders at one point, "Will Fox attack me for my 'tax the rich' comments?"

Another time, she complains on top staffer Michael Posner's behalf that "FOX is beating the heck out of Mike for what he said in his briefing on the China human rights dialogue about the Arizona law."

Later, she complains that Bill O'Reilly is hammering away at Posner, too -- before being told he was re-airing an old show.

"Things aren't as bad as they seem," Philippe Reines responded.

Clinton also had her eye on other media outlets. Both Blumenthal and Cheryl Mills forwarded her a December 2009 Politico story headlined: "Poll: Clinton approval soars."

Even while watching television in her downtime, Clinton wanted all things politics.

Some shows that caught her eye included NBC's "Parks and Recreation" and CBS' "The Good Wife," according to an email to aide Monica Hanley.

"Can you give me times for two TV shows: Parks and Recreation and The Good Wife?" she wrote in a "Happy New Year!" message early in 2010.

Parks and Recreation chronicles the saga of a Clinton-admiring woman in a small Indiana parks department, and The Good Wife is a political drama inspired by the Eliot Spitzer scandal.

Clinton also made it clear to Hanley how she drinks her tea -- with milk.

"Could you or he buy skim milk for me to have for my tea?" she wrote. "Also, pls remind me to bring more tea cups from home."

Clinton gets a lot of kind emails, but one, from decades-long friend Roy Spence, stood out.

He called Clinton "Sis" and said "I love you" -- and that was just in the subject line.

"I love you. I respect you. I miss you. I cherish every moment of our remarkable journey together," Spence wrote. "God Speed. Dear Sis. We shall cross paths soon."

He was right about crossing paths again soon. Spence is now Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign's message consultant.

In another example of flattery toward Clinton -- which showcased the sharp tongue that often got this communications aide in trouble, too -- aide Philippe Reines told Clinton in May 2010 that he "loved that you finally called out the ogrish males on your staff who roll their eyes at womens issues and events."

CNN's Lindy Royce, Adam Levine, Dan Merica and Steve Brusk contributed to this report

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