Poll: Americans Would Accept Black President And Bush Gets No Libby Bounce

A new Newsweek poll has three key elements:

(1) Americans are ready to elect a black President. The poll has some hedges in these numbers but the bottom line is: Americans say they are ready.

(2) Despite predictions that President George Bush would get a “bounce” from his conservative base for commuting the sentence of Scooter Libby, it looks like it has not helped him one bit. He remains at 26%. The only Presidents who had lower numbers were Richard Nixon and Harry Truman.

(3) If you look at the specific poll number approval ratings, Bush more than ever is actually President Of The GOP Base. Republicans approve of him 60%, Democrats 8% — and Independent voters approve of him with a tepid 20%. A whopping 87% of Democrats disapprove of Mr. Bush and a nearly-as-whopping 70% of Independents disapprove of how he’s handling his job.

Newsweek reports:

Could 2008 be the year that Americans put an end to an unbroken 218-year streak of electing white male presidents? Large majorities report a willingness to vote for either a woman or an African-American candidate for the office, according to the latest NEWSWEEK Poll. But those numbers drop significantly when respondents are asked whether the country is ready to accept a black or a woman in the White House.

Although 92 percent of the NEWSWEEK Poll’s respondents claim they would vote for a black candidate (up from 83 percent in 1991), only 59 percent believe the country is actually ready for an African-American president (an improvement over 37 percent in a 2000 CBS News poll). Similarly, 86 percent of voters say they would vote for a female commander in chief, but only 58 percent believe the country is ready for one (up from 40 percent in a 1996 CBS poll). Two thirds (66 percent) of voters said there was at least some chance they’d vote for Democratic Sen. Barack Obama (35 percent said there was a “good” chance, up from 20 percent last May). About as many (62 percent) said there was some chance they’d vote for Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton (43 percent said good chance, up from 33 percent). In a head-to-head race, though, Clinton dominates Obama 56 to 33 percent.

Experience appears to outweigh both race and gender in voters’ minds, however.

In other words, good news for Ms. Clinton:

More than two-thirds (70 percent) of the poll’s respondents feel Clinton, a former First Lady now in her second term as senator from New York, has enough experience in government to be a good president. For Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, the number drops to 40 percent (as many as 34 percent say he does not have enough experience). Both candidates are considered more qualified for office by nonwhites than by whites. Fifty-four percent of minorities say Obama is qualified; only 34 percent of whites agree. Eight in 10 (79 percent) minorities consider Clinton to be qualified enough, versus 67 percent of whites. More than half (55 percent) say former senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards has enough experience to be president, while 25 percent say he does not.

There’s something else that can be concluded by looking at this poll:

Hillary Clinton is getting good numbers on experience which means more then ever her political adversaries are going to be seeking to drive up her negatives. So while there may be issues galore to discuss in 2008, get ready for a business-as-usual campaign. Clinton has experienced advisors so presumably they’re already prepared for the onslaught that is bound to follow — especially with poll results such as these.