A new poll of likely women voters shows Democrat Barack Obama still has work to do to attract the ballots of some who backed Hillary Clinton in her primary fight with him.

Obama leads Republican John McCain, 49 percent to 38 percent among all women voters, according to the poll, but 18 percent of the women who voted for Clinton in the nomination fight say they plan to vote for McCain in November.

The survey, conducted for the Lifetime television networks by two respected pollsters, Democrat Celinda Lake and Republican Kellyanne Conway, was released last week.

The findings are important because women are likely to comprise a majority of the American electorate in what is shaping up to be another close presidential election. Some national tracking polls show the race in a statistical tie. McCain has gained in recent days.

"While the majority of women who voted for Hillary in the primary are flocking to Obama - 76 percent - nearly one out of five - 18 percent - say they will vote for McCain for president," according to the poll's findings.

Obama needs to try to stop that erosion if he hopes to win. In any primary contest, the losers' supporters are sometimes slow to join up with the winner, but these numbers suggest Obama still needs to pay special attention to Clinton and her voters.

(That could be difficult. A Pew Research poll last week showed 48 percent of voters say they've been hearing too much about Obama. Pew called this "Obama fatigue." Only 26 percent said they'd heard too much about McCain, and 38 percent said they'd heard too little. Only 10 percent said they'd heard too little from Obama.)

The Lifetime poll offered a mixed bag for Clinton.

"Despite all the talk about sexism in the presidential campaign, the majority of women voters laid the blame for Hillary's loss squarely on her and her strategists' shoulders, they largely reject gender as a cause of her demise," the poll found.

There were 34 percent who "believe she lost because of the kind of campaign she ran, 31 percent who said it was who she is and what she stands for and 21 percent who said it was because she is a woman.

"Despite losing the Democratic nomination, women (69 percent) credit Hillary for paving the way for tomorrow's female presidential candidates." The next female presidential candidate won't have to put up with all the novelty and tabloid scrutiny of being first.

There were 44 percent of the respondents who said they expect to see a woman president in the next eight years.

The poll has some whimsical findings:

- A majority - 51 percent - said if they were trying to carpool to save gas, they'd rather do it with Obama; only 31 percent preferred McCain.

- Nearly half - 49 percent - said they'd like to vacation with the Obamas; 26 percent said they'd like to with the McCains. "Nearly 20 percent would prefer to vacation without the candidates," the poll found.

So what's Obama to do? If he's over-exposed, perhaps he could knock off campaigning for a while, give rides or spend some pool time with recovering Clinton voters.

Margaritas, anyone?




By David Yepsen, Des Moines Register, August 10, 2008