If we're talking total strangers who have only ever heard of him...Alec puts a lot of work into laundering his reputation. The first thing people tend to hear about him is his involvement in the Underwood Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing access to medical care both domestically and internationally, in addition to war/disaster relief and refugee resettlement efforts. Alec's name, face, and grubby little mitts are all over the Foundation, so it's heavily associated with him and goes a long way towards making sure people think of him as close to sainthood.

More personally, Alec is known as a social butterfly, always hosting some social event or another. He and his wife are also known as patrons of the arts, having an impressive private art collection and devoting resources towards the preservation of art, and they're also both invested in a number of business endeavors independently - in Alec's case, particularly the shadow corporation now known as the Downgate Conglomerate, a controlling interest of which has been in the family for generations.

These are things that complete strangers with no connection to Alec might know from reading about him in the newspaper. If you want to know what people closer to him, but not close, think of him, that's a separate question. Thank you for asking!

Depends on the circumstances and how old she is/where she is in life! I think Isabelle still living with Alec, still under his thumb, would be so horrified with herself and so bereft of love and purpose in her life that she would become suicidal, and it would probably take a lot of external effort to keep her alive. Alec brainwashed her into thinking he was the only thing redeeming her existence, after all.

However, I can see another scenario where Isabelle is older and kills Alec by accident in self-defense when Alec tries to bring her back to Aldwycke after she escapes. In that case, while she'd be extremely distraught and angry with herself and would struggle to function enough to flee for her own safety, I could see her recovering more readily since she's already done some growth and gained some independence.

I feel like there are a few misunderstandings here. (Which happens! No worries.) First of all, Alec "ridding himself" of Viola wouldn't free him up to do anything with Isabelle that he isn't already. He's already raping Isabelle, treating them as a romantic partner, parading them around in front of others when possible, heaping responsibility on them...Viola's aware of the sexual abuse from the time Isabelle is fourteen, and she does nothing to put a stop to it. The only ways Alec could bind Isabelle to him even further are impossible not because of Viola but because of the Underwoods' social standing - in other words, he can't marry Isabelle even if Viola is dead because everyone around the family knows Isabelle is his daughter. I really don't see what more he could do with Viola dead that he can't with her alive.

Secondly, I feel the phrasing "rid himself" implies that Alec sees Viola as a burden or otherwise unwanted. That's not the case. Getting married was Alec's idea, and he's very happy in his marriage with Viola - he enjoys the ways she pushes back against him, the games he can play with her, her own capacity for cruelty, the ways she fills gaps in his life and in his nature and complements his existence. While Alec isn't romantically in love with Viola, he doesn't harbor any desire to throw her away in favor of Isabelle. Fundamentally, he wants both.

I'm so glad you're enjoying! Thank you very much for reading. Isabelle leaves Alec when she's twenty-two, after Viola overhears her letting slip to her lover Maggie Beth that Alec killed Viola's lover Andre. To get revenge, Viola convinces Isabelle that this indiscretion and lack of loyalty would spell death for her if Alec found out - and Alec always finds out. She helps Isabelle to escape in order to rob Alec of his love the way he robbed her of hers.

So Isabelle breaks contact not because she realizes what Alec's doing to her is wrong, or because she loves him any less, but because she's terrified of losing both his love and her life. Hope that answers your question!