Gallup: Obama Gains Support Among Women Voters After Clinton Exit
Gallup has good news for Democratic presumptive Presidential nominee Barack Obama: a new poll shows that since Senator Hillary Clinton suspended her campaign and endorsed him he has started picking up support among woman voters and broadened his general election lead over Republican John McCain:
Since Hillary Clinton decided to concede the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama last week, Obama has established a lead over Republican John McCain in general-election polling. Obama’s gains have come more from women than men, though he has picked up among both groups in recent days.
Obama’s lead among women has now expanded from five percentage points to 13, while his deficit among men has shrunk from six points to two.
These figures are based on aggregated Gallup Poll Daily tracking interviews with national registered voters conducted May 27-June 2 (the week immediately before Obama clinched the nomination on June 3), which showed Obama and McCain tied at 46%, and June 5-9 (the five days since it was reported that Clinton would suspend her campaign), which show Obama ahead, 48% to 42%. Obama clinched the nomination on the evening of June 3, and the news media reported Clinton would suspend her campaign on the evening of June 4. Thus, the data give a clear picture of voter support before and after Clinton’s exit.
Clinton had led both McCain and Obama among women while she was in the race — and Obama seems to be picking up some of those voters’ support:
At least for now, he seems to be matching Clinton’s performance among women versus McCain, given his current 13-point lead among female voters.
One of Clinton’s core groups of supporters during the nomination phase of the campaign was older women. During the last few days of her active candidacy, Clinton led McCain by 51% to 41% among women aged 50 and older, while Obama trailed McCain among this group, 46% to 43%.
Since Clinton suspended her campaign, older women’s vote preferences have shifted toward Obama, so that he now enjoys a six-point advantage over McCain.
Gallup also finds:
Obama has made major gains in the past few days among married women, erasing McCain’s former 52% to 40% lead and pulling into a 45% to 45% tie. Meanwhile, the vote preferences among married men (a solid McCain group) and unmarried men and women (solid Obama groups) have changed little since Clinton decided to end her White House bid.
What does this mean? Gallup suggests — and the polls do indicate — that women voters are now taking a “second look” at Obama which is why his lead in this demographic is now about the same over McCain as was Clinton’s.
Obama’s challenge in the general-election campaign will be to bring core Democratic groups that did not strongly support him in the primaries — women, voters with less formal education, and conservative Democrats — back into the fold. He appears to be already doing that among women. However, it is not clear whether this is just a temporary rally in support for him upon clinching the nomination, or whether he will be able to sustain a high level of support from female voters for the duration of the campaign.
The Republicans read the polls, too. So their goal is going to be to halt Obama from making these inroads and to actively court Clinton’s disappointed and in many cases angry voters. Obama’s goal and his party’s will be to draw sharp distinctions between the Democrats and Republicans to underscore how a vote for McCain will not be the same as a vote would have been for Clinton, in terms of ideology, values or political consequences.
12 Responses to “Gallup: Obama Gains Support Among Women Voters After Clinton Exit”
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The fear mongering and bashing of John McCain is an act to counter the mounting surge of protest against the mistreatment of Sen. Clinton by the DNC leadership.
Really, there's no need for Sen. Clinton supporters to fear McBush. There will be a Democratic Congress to parry any agenda of a “third Bush term” and provide leadership on issues important to women for only four years. In 2012, Sen. Clinton will be the presidential candidate to get America back on track.
In coercing the exit of Sen. Clinton, the corrupt and rigged Democratic Party gave Sen. Clinton supporters the only viable choice to support McCain. With Sen. Clinton's forced exit, the White House and “unity” are a pipe dream for the corrupt and rigged Democratic Party.
When the Republican attack machine gets into full swiftboat gear on cult leader Obama, the poll numbers won't be looking pretty.
Sen. Clinton supporters will not surrender in “unity” to the cult powers of Obama. Sen. Clinton supporters will campaign and vote for McCain in swing states Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Florida; a loss in any two states means Obama's defeat in Nov. I will volunteer and vote for McCain in a swing state.
Obama stole the nomination with MI and FL shenanigans, and de facto Obama surrogate House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rigged the nomination for Obama. Messiah Obama is unqualified and inexperienced, with no record of consensus building; simply he is unelectable.
Sen. Clinton should be the Democratic nominee with solutions of real change and a new direction in getting America back on track. She won the popular vote; she is a consensus builder who was the best qualified and the strongest presidential candidate to win the general election hands down. The corrupt and rigged Democratic Party dashed an easy landslide victory with Sen. Clinton for a crushing defeat with Obama.
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Oddly enough crat, it's your commentary that sounds cultish.
Look, I think people will vote in their own best interests. For the most part, Americans are fairly pragmatic and they'll each pick the candidate who they think will solve problems they care about. A lot of Clinton's supporters are very conservative by Democratic Party standards, so it's not terribly surprising that some would rather support McCain than Obama at this juncture. When you look at some of the key groups that voted for Clinton in the primaries – older women, blue collar workers, non-college educated, etc. – you find a lot of social conservatives. McCain's pro-life tendencies, military background, and plain-spoken attitude (among other things) are going to appeal to these groups.
However, it is horribly disingenuous to claim that the Democratic primary was rigged or that Obama somehow stole this election from Clinton. She was not entitled to the candidacy and frankly, the attitude that we somehow owed it to her is part of why so many Democrats didn't vote for her.
You have to face the facts here – Michigan and Florida SHOULD NOT HAVE COUNTED AT ALL. Their legislatures broke the rules knowing the consequences they would face and every candidate, Clinton included, supported the decision by the DNC to strip their delegates. It was incredibly gracious (or stupid) of the DNC to even consider seating those delegates. But even with the compromise solution in Michigan and Florida, Obama still won the race. He had more popular votes, he won more states, and he had more delegates. He played the game by the rules everyone agreed to at the start and now you're pissed that he beat your chosen candidate at a game that should have been a breeze for her. When you (and the rest of the malcontents) are done sucking on your sour grapes, maybe you'll see that and be able to vote based on the issues instead of nonsense.
I was a pretty strong Clinton supporter, but I certainly don't take the stance that crat3 does. For those who voted for Clinton because of her history of advocating for women's and children's issues, Obama is a clear 2nd-best choice. For those who liked Clinton's progressive politics, Obama is a clear 2nd-best choice. Sure, there are some hurt feelings, but I believe that most people who were invested enough in this contest to feel hurt probably know that there are small and distinguishing differences between Obama and Clinton, but there are huge and fundamental differences between McCain and Clinton. Calling Obama “unelectable” is pretty rediculous at this point, as well, considering the data in this very post.
sigh. way to face the most important issues facing a country at war and in recession: Hillary Clinton.
[...] Gallup has good news for Democratic presumptive Presidential nominee Barack Obama: a new poll shows that since Senator Hillary Clinton suspended her campaign and endorsed him he has started picking up support among woman voters and broadened his more info [...]
Dude, drink the kool aid and give us a break!!!
Amanda is quite correct — I believe that the vast majority of Clinton supporters are pragmatic. Despite the stereotype that has been portrayed by the media, most Clinton supporters are smart, they are reasonable, they are realistic. Many of them are still running pretty raw on emotion following the rollercoaster over the past couple of months, but give it a few weeks and I think that most Clinton supporters will realize that voting for Obama really is within their best interests.
Sure, many of Clinton's ardent supporters are quite disappointed right now, but I am confident that they will come to realize that Obama is a better 'second choice' than McCain, or better than not voting at all. (Obama wasn't even my first choice — he was third on my list). We are beginning to see the start of that slow movement already, but it is waaay early in the general election cycle (3 days down, 150-plus to go) — so don't expect too much too soon.
As I've noted, any ageist remark by the Obama crowd backfires, as it's Obama, not McCain, who's over his head due to age or lack of experience, if one of them were unfit for this reason. (I believe both are competent.)
What also backfires among wiser people is every time the Obama crowd, or Obama, utters the lie that McCain is a Bush clone or continuation. It backfires even more than the age attack, because intelligent people know that McCain would not threaten a third Bush term but Obama does threaten a second Carter term or first McGovern term.
And I wonder what Clinton voters think of such superficial, failed attacks by the Obama camp after they (Clinton voters) as well as Clinton have been subjected to such vicious abuse by that same camp. (The Left shows itself as the body of hate, even if it lies about the Right to try to evade the charge.)
Time to advance or progress or “change” [tm] from the superficial and offensive!
DLS – McCain voted in the senate to support Bush 100% of the time in 2008 (year to date), and 95% of the time in 2007. http://arcanebliss.newsvine.com/_news/2008/06/0…
More poll results that Obama is doing well among women and other groups that the media has painted as 'weaknesses' for Obama:
Among women: 52% Obama to 33% McCain
Among Hispanics: 62% to 28%
Among Catholics: 47% to 40%
Among blue-collar workers; 47% to 42%
Among white women: 44% to 38%
Among people who voted for Clinton in the primaries: 61% to 19%!
More info here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25096620