It’s an awkward question to ask and no doubt an uncomfortable one to answer. But in response to Hillary Clinton’s accusation that he has shown a penchant for sexism, Donald Trump has made an issue of Bill Clinton’s actual or alleged past sexual misconduct.

And so, when Hillary Clinton sat down with the Globe editorial board on Sunday, I asked what I see as the relevant question here: What does she say to people who are genuinely open to voting for her, but who wince at the memory of her husband’s various controversies and worry about the possibility of those kinds of controversies recurring if the Clintons return to the White House?

Mrs. Clinton cast her answer in political terms.

“This is not a new Republican tactic,’’ she said. “This is something that the Republicans have been trying to turn into political gold for a long time, and it hasn’t worked. So if that’s what they want to spend their time talking about, that’s their choice.’’ For her part, Clinton said, she would focus on issues she thinks matter to most Americans.

“I think most Americans have made up their minds one way or the other about all of this,’’ she said. “I think it’ll be up to voters to sort it out.’’

That answer didn’t really answer the question I’d asked. (Perhaps such an answer is impossible.) What she said, in essence, is that voters will have to decide for themselves.

Those sexual controversies having faded in memory, most Americans now feel positively about the former president. Certainly as an explainer of politics, he’s a nonpareil; his address at the 2012 Democratic convention remains one of the best framing-the-choice speeches I’ve ever seen.

And yet, in highlighting Bill Clinton’s behavior, Trump has touched on a latent liability for the Democratic power couple. The actual or alleged incidents in his personal sexual history range from ho-hum Arkansas-era consensual affairs to the dumb and undisciplined — but hardly investigation- or impeachment-worthy — sexual relationship with then 22-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky, to much more disturbing allegations of sexual harassment and assault.

Four things seem fair to say about all this.

First, Juanita Broaddrick’s assertion that Clinton raped her in 1978, while he was Arkansas attorney general and a gubernatorial candidate and she was a supporter and campaign volunteer, is by far the most serious and troubling of those allegations. Through his attorney, Clinton denied that in 1999, when Broaddrick’s allegation received national press coverage.

Second, as with most she-said-he-denied allegations that emerge years later, we’ll probably never know for certain what happened. But let’s be honest: That claim creates cognitive dissonance even for some Clinton admirers.

Last week, Broaddrick tweeted about the alleged rape and did a number of media interviews. In one, she said she was a Trump supporter, which will make it easier for some to dismiss her account. On the other hand, several close associates have said Broaddrick told them about the alleged rape at the time; confiding to family or friends about an alleged assault shortly after it supposedly occurred generally buttresses an alleged victim’s credibility.

Third, though Democrats hope that age and maturity now have Bill Clinton on the marital straight-and-narrow, almost no one knows for sure.

Fourth, the more his sexual history can be consigned to the past, the better Hillary’s presidential prospects are.

Which means that, at this point, ignoring the matter may be her best option. Certainly given the marital, political, and feminist complexities involved, it’s hard to imagine either Clinton addressing it in a way that would resolve uncomfortable questions. And so it really will be up to voters to decide what they believe about Bill Clinton’s past — and whether and how much that matters in contemplating Hillary Clinton’s future.

But it’s unlikely the Clintons have heard the last of this. Not while Donald Trump remains a candidate, anyway.

Scot Lehigh can be reached at lehigh@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeScotLehigh.