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More than two-thirds of Californians believe America is ready for a female president, but less than half want Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., to get the job, according to a new Field Poll.
The poll results raise questions about Clinton's ability to win a general election nationwide if she runs for president in 2008.
"California, the Bay Area especially, is an island. People don't think like we do. I would like to support her. But I don't think she can get elected," said Ellyn Weisel, 38, a stay-at-home mother from Marin County attending a pro-choice fund-raiser in San Francisco Thursday. "We need to find someone who can get elected."
Just 47 percent of registered voters said they were inclined to support Clinton, the front runner for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, with 42 percent not inclined, according to the poll. The support broke down sharply along party lines: 74 percent of Democrats said they'd be inclined to support Clinton, but only 16 percent of Republicans did. Independents favored Clinton, 45 percent to 38 percent.
"She's a very divisive figure," said Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo. "In my opinion, most people either like her or hate her."
Delaine Eastin, a Democrat and former California schools superintendent, agreed.
"I have great respect for her," she said of Clinton. "But there is a vitriol against Bill and Hillary that I don't understand."
Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst at the University of Southern California, said Hillary Clinton is the Democrat's version of President Bush - beloved by one party and despised by the other. If that situation continues, it could give Democratic voters pause during the presidential primaries.
"There appears to be some real nervousness about the fact she appears to be such a polarizing figure and whether she can win a general election," Jeffe said.
A slim majority of Californians, 51 percent, said Clinton would be treated more harshly than other candidates if she runs, while 22 said she'd be treated the same and 18 percent said she'd be treated less harshly. Democrats and independents were much more likely to think Clinton would be treated worse, suggesting the perception isn't because she's a woman but because of her political persona, DiCamillo said.
Clinton's gender does not appear to be a drawback in California, according to the poll of 507 registered voters taken from Feb. 12 to 26. It has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.
More Californians, who have two women senators, think the country is ready for a woman in the Oval Office than the nation as a whole. The Field Poll found 69 percent of registered voters thought the country was ready for a woman president, with 24 percent saying it was not. A nationwide poll by CBS News and the New York Times in January showed 55 percent of Americans thought the country was ready for a woman president.
The results were heartening to Ellen Malcolm, the founder of EMILY's List, a group dedicated to getting Democratic women elected.
"This nation is really ready for a woman president," Malcolm said. `It's taken time, but we're ready."
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(c) 2006, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.). Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.
