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A factor that may hurt Palin's popularity with women is her pro-life stance. As a result of Palin's shared intention to reverse Roe Vs. Wade, 65% of women do not see her as a "woman's candidate."
According to the survey results, gender is not a factor when it comes to the presidential election. The overwhelming majority of female voters (97%) feel it is more important to have someone in the White House whose stance on issues they agree with (even if it is a man), rather than choosing a woman regardless of whether or not they agree with her position on issues. In fact, only 8% of female voters say they are more likely to vote for McCain, now that he has a female running mate.
Additionally, an overwhelming 81% of female voters feel that Hillary Clinton did not lose the democratic Presidential nomination solely because of gender. 15% of the women surveyed consider Hillary the most intelligent political figure, compared to 6% who consider Sarah Palin to be.
Women voters are tougher on their own gender when it comes to holding politicians accountable for marital infidelity. Significantly more men (30%) than women (19%) agree they would not find it as offensive if a female politician committed marital infidelity. In addition, 27% of married men, and 20% of married women agree they would not find it as offensive if a female politician committed marital infidelity.
When it comes to the pregnancy of Palin's daughter, Bristol, 37% of female voters feel it puts her family values into question. Young women are Palin's harshest critics on this matter. Women 18-34 (34%) say the pregnancy makes them question her ability to be Vice President, significantly more so than women 35-49 (20%) and women 50+ (15%). However, more than 1 in 3 (34%) female voters overall think Palin's daughter's pregnancy makes her seem more relatable and real.
Can Sarah Palin do it all when it comes to balancing work and family? Young women are skeptical. 36% of women 18-34 feel she can do it all – be a great mom and Vice President, compared to a much higher 47% of women 35-49 and 49% of women 50+ who feel she can juggle both.
Source:
Women@NBCU's 2008 Political Attitudes Survey was conducted using the GfK Roper US Online Consumer Panel. The survey was conducted September 19-24, 2008. Completed surveys were obtained from 1,204 adults age 18 or older who were both registered and plan to vote in the upcoming election. The sample was weighted to represent the characteristics of the total online population in terms of gender, age, region, education and race, according to the U.S. Census.
About Women@NBCU:
Launched in May 2008, Women@NBCU is a powerful combination of media assets reaching women across multiple platforms. This content and marketing and research initiative creates custom solutions for advertisers to connect with the desirable female demographic through NBC Universal brands, including Bravo, Oxygen, iVillage, "Green is Universal," as well as other female-skewing properties such as "TODAY" and certain NBC primetime programs.
Recent Political Commentary
Bye-Bye 2008: Things I Want to Forget
Arianna Huffington
2008 was a very memorable year, featuring one of the most unforgettable presidential campaigns in history. I'd like
to take a moment to focus on the things that happened over the last 12 months that I'd love to forget.
Laissez-Faire Capitalism Should Be as Dead as Soviet Communism
Arianna Huffington
The collapse of Communism as a political system sounded the death knell for Marxism as an ideology. But while laissez-faire capitalism has been a monumental failure in practice, and soundly defeated at the polls, the ideology is still alive and kicking.
The Madoff Debacle
Arianna Huffington
Ambitious and risky undertakings featuring the weeding out of anyone who raises alarms, little-to-no transparency,
an oversight system in which no central authority is accountable, and the deliberate manufacturing of ambiguity and
complexity.
Does this sound Familiar? Is it Iraq? Fannie Mae? Citigroup? Bernie Madoff?
Arianna Huffington argues that the correct answer is "All of the Above."
Hillary Plus Obama Equals High Drama
Arianna Huffington on the Obama Administration
It's too early to tell what changes Hillary Clinton will bring to Barack Obama's foreign policy, but she's already had an enormous effect on his brand.
Hillary's appointment isn't even official, but the Obama/Clinton narrative has already left the realm of politics. Its twists, turns, shadings and complex emotions are the stuff of literature.
Arianna Huffington on Politics & President-Elect Barack Obama
Obama's high-tech outreach has been instrumental in getting people across the country to donate millions of dollars and contribute millions of hours working on the campaign. Will it now become a hub for civic action
Obama has always said that a call to service would be a central cause of his presidency. We will ask Americans to serve," he said in a signature speech in July. "We will create new opportunities for Americans to serve. And we will direct that service to our most pressing challenges.
Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy
G20 Leaders gather in Washington DC to address the Global Economic & Financial Crisis
President Bush and world leaders gathered for the first in a series of meetings to discuss efforts to strengthen
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economic crisis does not happen again.
President-Elect Barack Obama: Can Obama Pull Off A Historic Presidential Double Play
Arianna Huffington on Politics & President-Elect Barack Obama
Change was driven by two things: our remarkable capacity for regeneration, and Barack Obama's remarkable
ability to tap into the better angels of our nature. You know something extraordinary is happening when
even Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin and Joe Lieberman trip over themselves -- and their hastily discarded
invective -- to say nice things about Obama and the tremendous signal sent by his election.
Barack Obama Wins: Why All Americans Have a Reason to Celebrate President-Elect Obama
Arianna Huffington on Politics & President-Elect Barack Obama
Even if your candidate didn't win Tuesday night, you have reason to celebrate. We all do. Ten months ago, when Barack Obama won in Iowa, we had a glimpse of what was possible and what became real Tuesday night.
What I wrote then about one state is now true for the whole country: Barack Obama's impressive victory says a lot about America, and also about the current mindset of the American voter.
Barack Obama Closing Arguments Election 2008 Eve
FactCheck.org & the 2008 Election
With the finish line in sight, Obama serves up familiar, pie-in-the-sky promises.
In the last few days, Obama has wrapped up his pitch to the electorate with some misleading claims we've
heard before: He continued to ask voters to believe he can pay for every dime of an ambitious health care
plan and other spending proposals while cutting taxes for all but the most affluent. Budget experts say
that's unlikely. He also kept up the drumbeat on a promise to end "tax breaks for sending jobs overseas,"
as though that could do much to keep jobs at home. Experts say it can't.
John McCain Closing Arguments Election 2008 Eve
FactCheck.org & the 2008 Election
John McCain and Sarah Palin close their campaign with a new set of dubious attacks. In the final week, the
McCain-Palin campaign unleashed some all-new misleading attacks on Obama: McCain strained to tie Obama to a
Palestinian professor whose views on Israel are quite different from Obama's. McCain and Palin both distorted
a seven-and-a-half-year-old radio interview with Obama concerning the court system and civil rights. McCain and
the GOP ran ads claiming Obama's military budget would mean huge job cuts in Virginia, despite Obama's proposal
to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps – and McCain's own calls for ending wasteful weapons programs.
Barack Obama It’s Official Obama Born in the USA and The Truth About Obama's Birth Certificate
FactCheck.org & the 2008 Election
Of all the nutty rumors, baseless conspiracy theories and sheer disinformation that we’ve dealt with at
FactCheck.org during campaign 2008, perhaps the goofiest is the claim that Barack Obama is not a
"natural-born citizen" and therefore not eligible to be president under the constitution.
There has never been anything but rumor and speculation to support such a claim, and zero hard evidence.
Barack Obama Should Spill a Little Red Ink to Turn a Few More Red States Blue
Arianna Huffington on Politics & the 2008 Election
Republicans, while still holding out hope for a "McCain Miracle," are increasingly worried that McCain is losing in a way that, as David Frum put it, "threatens to take the entire Republican Party down with him."
Democrats, while being careful not to count their electoral chickens before they're hatched, are privately worried about winning without enough of a majority in the Senate to really change things.
John McCain The Internet and the Death of Rovian Politics
Arianna Huffington on Politics & the Internet's Impact
Age has finally become an issue for John McCain. But the problem isn't the candidate's 72 years; it's the antediluvian approach of his campaign.
McCain is running a textbook Rovian race: fear-based, smear-based, anything goes. But it isn't working. The glitch in the well-oiled machine? The Internet.
What McCain May Be Planning & What Obama Can Do to Ruin It
Arianna Huffington on Politics & the 2008 Debates
Political horse-race fans are focusing on Obama's 11-point lead in the new Newsweek poll. But I'm focusing on the 10-point lead McCain has on national security and terrorism -- the only remaining issue voters believe the Republican candidate would be more adept at handling.
As the one arrow left in McCain's quiver-- other than appealing to racists -- national security becomes the likeliest playing field for that GOP fall tradition, the October Surprise.
The Winner of Presidential Debate II? 'That One'
Arianna Huffington on Politics & the 2008 Debates
In Debate II, John McCain twice laid out the criteria for how the American people should judge the candidates: In tough times, we need someone with a steady hand on the tiller. By that measure, Obama was the clear winner.
Does John McCain Still Agree with Ronald Reagan that Government is the Problem
Arianna Huffington on Politics & the 2008 Economic Crisis
Ronald Reagan, in his first inaugural address, famously declared that "government is not the solution to our
problem; government is the problem." Twenty-seven years later, in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and
seven-plus years into the reign of Bush and Cheney, Reagan's anti-government battle cry should be on trial.
But, stunningly, it is not. This needs to change. The presidential candidates' view of the role of
government should be one of the central questions of the last 36 days of the campaign.
The Bailout Plan: Welcome to Economic Shock & Awe
Arianna Huffington on Politics & the 2008 Economic Crisis
Welcome to Economic Shock and Awe (or as some have dubbed it, according to Paul Krugman, "the Authorization for Use of Financial Force").
Even the amount of taxpayer money being bandied about -- $1 trillion -- is similar. Think you got your money's worth for the Iraq war? Congratulations -- you're about to buy another pricey debacle.
We've seen how negligent the Bush administration is with our money -- flushing billions on wasteful, mismanaged Iraq reconstruction and Katrina recovery projects.
The Palin Doctrine: Why the Neocons are So Excited
Arianna Huffington Politics & the 2008 Presidential Elections & Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin may not have known what the Bush Doctrine was, but we're getting a pretty good idea of what the
Palin Doctrine is. Or will be -- because it's still currently under construction. And what is it going to look like? Let's just say, it's going to seem familiar.
According to London's Daily Telegraph, the architects of the Palin Doctrine are a group of people who have been singularly wrong about virtually everything in the last decade -- the neocons, who have been briefing Palin for weeks.
As predicted, the fact that she didn't know anything wasn't a bug, it was a feature.
She's perfect for the neocons: likeable on the outside, a blank slate on the inside.
To borrow from an old cliche, if Sarah Palin didn't exist, the neocons would have had to invent her.
Sarah Palin: A Trojan Moose Concealing Four More Years of George Bush
Arianna Huffington Politics & the 2008 Presidential Elections
Did Sarah Palin wrongfully push to have her ex-brother-in law fired? Was she really against the "Bridge to Nowhere?" Did she really sell Alaska's plane on eBay, or just list it on eBay? Did she actually have any substantial duties commanding the Alaska National Guard?
The correct answer to all these questions is: Who cares?
Saving the GOP & The Unbearable Lightness of Being Sarah Palin
Arianna Huffington Politics & the 2008 Presidential Elections
You can see why Sarah Palin is such an appealing pick for John McCain. Along with all the things she brings to
the table -- fresh face, mother of five, hockey mom -- Sarah Palin is notable for what she doesn't bring: a track record.
If John McCain had picked any of the far more experienced candidates on his short list, they would have come fully equipped with a long paper trail
McCain Vs. Biden: Not All 'Foreign Policy Experience' Is Created Equal
Arianna Huffington Politics & the 2008 Presidential Elections
What's great about the Biden pick isn't just that he has "foreign policy expertise," it's the kind of expertise
he has, how he uses it, and how useful his expertise is for the unique challenges we currently face around the
world. His approach favors diplomacy and engagement. Contrast that with the approach of John McCain, who also
has "foreign policy experience."
Making The Case That McCain Isn't 'Ready To Lead' on National Security
What I'm really hoping is that Obama will use this downtime to regroup, recharge, and come back ready to relentlessly make the case to the American people that McCain isn't "ready to lead" on national security. Voters trust McCain on the war on terror; Obama needs to show them every day why they shouldn't.
"Swing Vote": What It Tells Us About the Race, and Why Obama Needs to Put Kevin Costner on His Ipod
The makers of Swing Vote, the new film starring Kevin Costner, have pulled off a rare double play, producing a smart political satire that is also heartfelt and moving. It's also a film that turns out to be remarkably relevant to the 2008 race.
Obama's Trip Bounce - Media Obsession With Polls Leads to a Bad Case of Premature Pontification
Isn't it strange that Barack Obama didn't get a bounce from his wildly well-received overseas trip? Of course, almost all of this analysis is based on polls taken before the end of Obama's trip -- a serious case of premature pontification.
Tell Me Again, Why is Obama's Popularity With Our Allies A Bad Thing?
I understand why John McCain's campaign is desperately looking for negatives in Obama's overseas trip. But why have so many in the media internalized the McCain campaign's claptrap?
The Latest Media Blind Spot: Viewing All Criticism of Obama Through a Right-Left Prism
In the last two weeks, there has been a flurry of stories that has tried to portray criticism of Barack Obama's recent stands as the sole province of disenchanted members of "the left" -- also referred to as "the far left", "left-winger bloggers", ...
Surge Amnesia : The Media's Newest Affliction
John McCain, aided and abetted by his loving protectors in the media, is running a victory lap on Iraq. Buoyed by a reduction in violence in Iraq, war supporters are crawling out from the shadows and beating their chests
Memo to Obama : Moving to the Middle Is For Losers
I looked at the Obama campaign not through the prism of my own progressive views and beliefs but through the prism of a cold-eyed campaign strategist who has no principles except winning. From that point of view, and taking nothing else into consideration, I can unequivocally say: The Obama campaign is making a very serious mistake. Tacking to the center is a losing strategy.
McCain's Campaign Funding Hypocrisy: Why are the Media Looking the Other Way?
Isn't it interesting how, after largely ignoring the issue for the last 30 years, during which the GOP consistently outfundraised and outspent Democrats in election after election, the media are suddenly all atwitter about whether the campaign finance system is "basically fair"? How dare Obama inspire 1.5 million donors, giving an average of $197 apiece, to help him raise more money than McCain?
John McCain: The Second Coming of Bob Dole
"Prominent Republicans . . . have been for the first time openly critical" of John McCain's "floundering campaign."
An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released last week asked the question, "Who do you think will win?" The answer: Barack Obama 54; John McCain 30. Obama is unlikely to win in such a landslide, which means that millions planning to vote for McCain expect him to lose -- as was the case with Dole.
Scotty Come Lately - Seven Takes on Scott McClellan's New Book
In his book "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," Scott McClellan offers withering portraits of George Bush, Karl Rove, Condi Rice and Scooter Libby, confirms that we went to war in Iraq under false pretenses, and that we were serially lied to about the outing of Valerie Plame.
Unmasking McCain: His Reactionary Record on Reproductive Rights
We've seen the exit polls. I get the anger and the disappointment. Really? In Clinton vs. McCain. And nowhere is the difference more profound than with reproductive rights.
Hillary Clinton's Defeat: A Historic Triumph
A front page story in Monday's New York Times wonders whether Hillary Clinton's flagging run for the presidency is "a historic if incomplete triumph or a depressing reminder of why few (women) pursue high office in the first place."
Political News Commentary and Opinion by Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington's e-mail address is arianna@huffingtonpost.com.
(c) 2008 Arianna Huffington. Distributed by Tribune Media Services, Inc.
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