US ready for woman president?

Is the United States ready for a woman president? Statistics fall all across the board on this question, depending on whom you ask. According to a release by the Siena Research Institute (http://www.siena.edu/sri/FirstWomanPresident/FWP_release_final_sans.pdf ), 62% of the 1,125 registered voters polled believe 2008 should present a woman candidate. According to the same survey, 67% of voters believe a woman president would handle domestic issues better than a male president.

As would be expected, the Democratic Party is overwhelmingly more supportive of a female president (still according to the Siena survey). 60 % of the voters expect to see a woman on the Democratic ticket and only 18% expect a woman Republican candidate. The two most talked about names are Hilary Clinton (D) and Condoleezza Rice(R).

But lets take a look at another set of data. According to a poll conducted by Fox News, a fairly conservative organization, 56% of polled voters say they want a woman in office. This number is up five percent over the last 7 years. So slowly, but surely, America is preparing for a woman commander in chief. However from the same Fox News survey, only 48% of republicans say they would vote for a female candidate versus the democratic 76% (http://www.pollingreport.com/politics.htm#President).

These sets of data are fairly congruent. However, take a look at a survey done by ABC news done in 1999. (http://www.pollingreport.com/politics.htm#President) It suggests that 91% of voters would vote for a woman president. Has our want for a woman president really declined? I would say that voters were looking to sound politically correct because the second part of the data confirms what FOX and Siena suggested with 48% of voters saying they are ready for a woman president.

I guess we’ll just have to wait for the nominations and see what happens!