Comments on: Women lead early presidential polling

By: Rod

Rod — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 04:04:39 +0000

Where’s Powell? He seems like the most likable, and perhaps likely, Republican.
Where’s Al?

As Moshe said, at this point it’s primarily name recognition. I think Hillary is nominatable(?), but not electable. People may have forgotten why they disliked Hillary a decade ago, but the Republican Party will be sure to remind them. In fact, she might almost be the GOP’s first choice for an opponent — they would have fun nipping at her.

Actually, at this point, it seems to be a race to the bottom and show that *both* parties have neither vision nor conviction.

By: loonunit

loonunit — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 19:01:50 +0000

I don’t think we should read too much into that 28% of people who say they would be unlikely to vote for a woman. Given the sharp political divisions which exist in this country right now, a person’s knee-jerk response to the idea of a woman president is likely to be drowned out by their utter contempt for her opponent. A lot of people don’t vote for their candidate; they vote against the opposing philosophy.

It might affect the primaries, however: I know at least one long-time Democrat who voted for John Kerry because he thought Kerry “had the best chance.”

By: janet

janet — Mon, 24 Oct 2005 18:50:41 +0000

I think a lot of people have forgotten why they hate Hillary Clinton so much, if they ever knew. Nevertheless, many people do hate her, and I just don’t see her getting the nomination.

As for issues vs. character, for a lot of people character is the issue. It’s so much easier to form an opinion on character than to actually think about the issues, let alone about policy.

The last 10 years or so have been very hard on people who have any hope for substance in the US political process.

By: citrine

citrine — Mon, 24 Oct 2005 17:27:14 +0000

With newer issues like war and terrorism (and the expenses incurred on those) at the forefront, wouldn’t the contenders’ personal stuff take a backseat for the majority of people?

By: jami

jami — Mon, 24 Oct 2005 05:57:22 +0000

the way hillary dealt with, um, the lie bill clinton told was pitch-perfect. she did stand by her man, protestations to the contrary aside. republicans who bring up a candidate’s husband’s blow job nine years later will look ridiculous indeed.

By: Elliot

Elliot — Mon, 24 Oct 2005 03:02:28 +0000

Gee, if I were Bill Frist I’d be a little concerned even though its early. He could be toast anyway with the HCA stock stuff.

By: Moshe

Moshe — Mon, 24 Oct 2005 00:51:41 +0000

I personally would not read too much into it. Like similar polls in 1998 and 2002, success is just a function of name recognition. When time comes to the actual competition, this name recognition and any kind of track record is generally a disadvantage. Some obscure governor of a southern state, or some such person, will be the most likely candidate of either party.