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A bi-partisan national effort to recruit and train women to run for all levels of office.
Facts
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A Woman President? Polling Data
| CAWP has compiled polling data on the question of how Americans feel about a woman as a presidential candidate. The focus here is not on testing the prospects of individual candidates, but rather on exploring the presidential prospects for women in general. We will update this list when new polls are published. | |
| Lifetime Networks Poll, November 21-24, 2008 As part of its nonpartisan Every Woman Counts campaign to engage women in the political process, Lifetime Networks today announced the results of a national poll of women conducted by Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway of WomanTrend and Democratic pollster Celinda Lake of Lake Research Partners. The poll, the fifth in the series of Lifetime surveys of women this year, provides an in-depth look at women’s reactions to historic presidential election, their agenda for new leaders and the future of female candidates. |
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| Revisiting the Mommy Wars:
Politics, Gender and Parenthood Pew Research Center Poll, Mid-June through Mid-July Who makes better candidates -- moms or dads? And more broadly, what impact do both the gender and parenting status of candidates have on their chances to win an election? An experimental online survey by the Pew Research Center suggests that the answer depends, in no small part, on whether you are a Republican or a Democrat. The study used four separate random samples of more than 500 registered voters each, for a total of 2300 voters overall. It was conducted before the selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as the Republican vice-presidential candidate. |
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| May 30-June 2 CBS News Poll CBS surveyed 798 people, including 712 registered voters. Most registered voters, men and women, think that Hillary Clinton's candidacy will make it easier for other women to run in the future. A majority was glad to see a woman as a serious presidential contender, and most hoped and thought that they would see a woman president in their lifetime. |
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| March 15-18 2008 CBS News Poll A CBS News poll of 1,067 voters finds that they see gender as more of a barrier in presidential politics than race. Thirty nine percent of registered voters said a woman faces more obstacles in a presidential race while 33 percent said a black candidate does. 42 percent of voters said they felt Senator Hillary Clinton has been treated more harshly because of her gender, while just 27 percent felt Senator Barack Obama has been treated more harshly because of his race. Respondents say more people they know would be likely to vote for a black candidate than a woman. Fifty six percent said that "most people" they know would vote for a black candidate for president, while 46 percent said the same of a woman candidate. 45 percent said "most people" they know would not vote for a woman. At the same time, respondents also called racism (42 percent) a "more serious" problem than sexism (10%). |
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| September 12-16 2007 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press Survey A Pew Research Center for the People and the Press survey conducted September 12-16 finds that voters view Senator Clinton as "tough" and "smart" when asked to choose which candidates best fit certain descriptors. |
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| August 14-16 2007 Research 2000 Poll In a survey of 600 voters conducted August 14-16 for the Reno Gazette-Journal in the early primary state of Nevada, 71 percent said they thought Nevadans would vote for a qualified woman for president. By comparison, 69 percent thought people in the state would vote for a qualified Black candidate, and 65 percent said Nevadans would vote for a Mormon. |
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| July 2007 Newsweek Poll According to a Newsweek Poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International July 2-3, large majorities of Americans are willing to vote for either a woman or an African-American candidate for President. But when asked whether or not the country is ready to accept a black or female President, the numbers drop significantly. (This poll also includes "horse race" data for the 2008 Democratic primaries.) |
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| March 2007 Gallup Poll Looking at five key traits of potential presidential candidates, a Gallup Poll with an aggregated sample of over 2,000 interviews conducted in two surveys (Feb. 9-11, 2007 and March 2-4, 2007), found that most Americans are comfortable voting for a black (84%) or a female (77%) candidate. |
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| December 2006 Newsweek Poll A poll of 1,000 adults taken for Newsweek in December 2006 found that 86 percent of respondents said that if their party nominated a woman for president, they would vote for her if she were qualified for the job. 55 percent said that America is ready to elect a woman president. 93 percent said they would vote for a qualified African-American candidate from their party, and 56 percent said the country is ready to elect an African-American president. |
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| September 2006 Gallup Poll A September 2006 Gallup survey finds that about three fifths of Americans believe the country is ready to have a woman president. Similar proportions say that the country is ready for a black or Jewish president, but the numbers who think the country is ready for a Hispanic, Asian or Mormon president are somewhat lower, and far smaller numbers say the country would elect an atheist or gay or lesbian president. |
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| March 2006 Field Poll of California registered voters According to a March 2006 Field Poll of California registered voters, 69% think the country is ready for a woman president, while 24% disagree. |
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| February 2006 CBS/New York Times Poll According to a February 2006 CBS/New York Times Poll, 92% of Americans say they would vote for a qualified woman presidential candidate from their own political party. 55% of those polled think that the U.S. is ready to elect a woman president, up from 40% in 1996. |
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| February 2006 Financial Dynamics for Diageo/Hotline Poll A February 2006 poll conducted by Financial Dynamics for Diageo/Hotline saw majorities of both men (57%) and women (55%) agreeing that a female candidate could be elected president. |
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| Hearst Newspapers/Siena College Poll in February 2006 A Hearst Newspapers/Siena College Poll in February 2006 showed that 64% said the US was ready for a woman president. In February 2005, asked the same questions, 62% of respondents thought that the US was ready for a woman president, and 81% said they would be willing vote for a woman themselves. |
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| February 2006 WNBC/Marist Poll A February 2006 WNBC/Marist Poll showed that 23% of voters would be likely to support a woman candidate for president from either major party, while 27% would not be likely to support a woman presidential candidate from either party. For 28%, the only woman candidate likely to gain their support would be a Democrat, while only a Republican woman would draw the votes of 22%. An October 2005 WNBC/Marist Poll found similar results. |
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| January 2006 CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll A January 2006 CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll found the two women most frequently mentioned as potential presidential candidates of their respective parties were each opposed by about half the electorate. |
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| September 2005 Poll by Roper Public Affairs A poll conducted in September 2005 by Roper Public Affairs for the White House Project found that a large majority of Americans (79%) were comfortable with the idea of a woman president. The study also asked about comfort levels with women in other high-level positions and found even larger majorities comfortable with a woman as vice president (84%) and Supreme Court justice (90%). |
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| September 2005 Gallup Poll for CNN/USA Today A poll taken in September 2005 by Gallup for CNN/USA Today found that nearly half of Americans,46%, thought the United States would have a female president within the next 10 years, and an additional 41% said within the next 10 to 25 years. |
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| Rasmussen Poll in April 2005 | |
| According to a Rasmussen Poll in April 2005, 72% of Americans said they would be willing to vote for a woman for president, but only 49% thought their family, friends and co-workers would vote for a woman candidate. | |
| May-June 2003 Gallup Poll Over the years, Gallup Polls have shown an increased acceptance of the concept of a female presidential candidate. In May-June 2003, 87% of Americans said they would vote for a woman if their party nominated a qualified one for president, down slightly from 1999, but overwhelmingly higher than when Gallup first asked the question in 1937. |
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