Looks like the American people are becoming more and more enthusiastic about Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a candidate for President. At the same time, opposition is growing to another female candidate.

Growing numbers of Americans oppose a presidential bid by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., in 2008 — and favor a run by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice — amid broad public willingness to elect a woman as president, according to a nationwide poll released Sunday.

The Presidents Day survey conducted for Hearst Newspapers by the Siena Research Institute of Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y., covered 1,120 registered voters and was completed Feb. 10.

Some 48 percent of survey participants said Rice "should run" for president at the conclusion of President Bush's second term, an increase of 6 percentage points over a similar survey a year ago.

Clinton saw opposition to a presidential bid grow over the same period. About 44 percent of respondents now say Clinton "should not run" for president in 2008 — up from 37 percent who felt that way last year.

The percentage of registered voters who say Clinton "should run" slipped from 53 percent to 51 percent in the past year, as support for a Rice candidacy increased, from 42 percent to 48 percent.

But the most important part of the survey is that Americans feel ready to vote for a woman.

The survey found that 79 percent of participants were willing to vote for a woman as president, and 64 percent said the nation was "ready" for one.

The survey did not test a head-to-head race between Clinton and Rice.
The margin of error for the survey in both years was 2.9 percentage points. That could mean that Clinton's 2 percentage point drop in the "should run" category may not represent an actual change.

The survey found that a majority of registered voters thought a female president would handle national security-related issues as well as a male president, including serving as commander-in-chief of the armed services.

In other words, 2008 may be just the time for a strong, national security-oriented female candidate like Dr. Rice to seek the presidency. We in the GOP need to persuade her that her time is NOW.

Posted by: Greg at 10:56 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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