Poll: Two-Thirds Ready For Woman President

Poll: Two-Thirds Ready For Woman President
(CBS/AP) ALBANY While two-thirds of voters nationally say America is ready for a woman president, a new poll shows Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton running neck-and-neck with Republicans Sen. John McCain and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani for the White House.
Many voters believe a woman would handle domestic issues like health, education, social security, energy policy and responding to natural disasters better than a man, doing worse only as commander-in-chief of the U.S. armed forces, according to the Siena Research Institute poll commissioned by Hearst Newspapers.
"Three factors have converged to bring us to this moment in U.S. public opinion," said Douglas Lonnstrom, institute director and statistics professor. "Increasing acceptance of the concept of a woman president, the extended losses of the unpopular Iraq war and an instantly recognizable woman candidate -- the United States senator from New York and former First Lady of the United States."
A second poll released Monday shows Clinton outdistancing Democratic rivals Barack Obama, Al Gore and John Edwards, with overall opposition to her candidacy down slightly from a year ago. The poll, from Marist College's Institute of Public Opinion in conjunction with WNBC-TV, shows 43 percent of voters say they wouldn't consider voting for her in 2008, down from 46 percent in December.
The Siena telephone survey of 1,120 registered voters nationwide Feb. 5-9 claims a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.
It shows two-thirds, or 66 percent, of Americans think the U.S. is ready for a woman president, up from 64 percent last year and 62 percent in 2005. A fraction of the 27 percent who say the country is not yet ready say it will never be.
However, 81 percent overall say they would vote for a woman president, up from 79 percent last year. "There is some question whether people who are answering the 81 percent are saying to themselves, 'I'm willing to vote for a woman but my neighbor may not be,"' Lonnstrom said.
Since the New York senator is the only serious woman candidate under consideration for a 2008 White House run, Lonnstrom says some of the changes over the past three years may be from the "Hillary effect,"
In at least six years of institute polling about Clinton, including her 2000 Senate race, Lonnstrom says he believes polls undercount her actual support in the voting booth. "I even see this anecdotally," he said. "The Hillary supporters are afraid to speak up, because the people who are anti-Hillary are very anti-Hillary.
"I'm a believer there is that hidden closet vote for her."
Asked specifically about Clinton, 54 percent of those polled think she will be the Democratic candidate for president, and 45 percent of Democrats say they would vote for her in their primary.
If the election were held today, overall 45 percent would back Clinton compared with 44 percent for McCain, while 45 percent would back Giuliani compared with 44 percent for Clinton.
Marist's poll of 1,218 adults nationally Feb. 12-15 similarly shows Giuliani with 47 percent to Clinton's 45 percent, and Arizona's McCain and Clinton tied at 46 percent each.
Among Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents, Clinton had 37 percent support for a primary now, compared with 17 percent from Illinois Sen. Obama and 11 percent each for former Vice President Gore and former North Carolina Sen. Edwards.
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