Posted on 08/07/2007 12:47:16 PM PDT by SmithL
WASHINGTON - Women are flocking to Hillary Rodham Clinton's Democratic presidential candidacy and men are doing the same for Republican Fred Thompson.
Yet for all that support, both candidates are showing early vulnerabilities wooing voters of the opposite sex.
Thompson, the former Tennessee senator and tough-guy actor on television's "Law and Order," gets 68 percent of his support from males as he edges toward a run for the GOP presidential nomination, far more than other hopefuls, according to recent Associated Press-Ipsos polling. While he and front-runner Rudy Giuliani each draw nearly a quarter of the Republican male vote, he significantly trails his chief rivals among women.
"He seems to be closer to the conservative that I am," said Richard Bussa, 60, a Thompson supporter and retired newspaper writer from Minford, Ohio. "Playing on the police shows he's on, he does present a hard-nosed, law-and-order-type guy."
On the Democratic side, Clinton is showing a mirror-image weakness, though one less stark than Thompson's.
The New York senator and former first lady gets 63 percent of her support from women and has more than twice the female backing of her nearest rival, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in AP-Ipsos surveys. She has only a slender lead among men, who are splitting their allegiances about evenly among her, Obama and former Vice President Al Gore, who has not said he will run.
"She's competent, she's tough," said Diana Roberts, 54, a teacher from Edison, N.J. "And I think it's time" for a woman to be president.
These patterns make Clinton and Thompson formidable forces within their parties. A slight majority of GOP voters are men, who tend to be more conservative than women, while just over half of Democratic voters are female, according to figures from recent national elections.
Analysts caution that women tend to choose their candidates later than men, and that many people aren't closely following the campaigns yet. Even so, Thompson and Clinton would each want to attract more voters of the opposite sex should they lead their parties in the 2008 general elections.
"She can certainly win the nomination based on her support with women," said Democratic pollster Geoff Garin, who is not affiliated with any presidential candidate. "But at the end of the day for the general election, she needs to make sure she can get her fair share of votes among swing men as well."
Combining data from AP-Ipsos polls from June and July, Clinton _ who leads nationally overall _ had the support of 41 percent of women. That compared to 19 percent for Obama, 14 percent for Gore and 10 percent for John Edwards. Clinton is strong with women of all ages, married and single.
At the same time, Clinton had the backing of 26 percent of men _ slightly more than Obama's 23 percent and Gore's 22 percent, while Edwards had 13 percent. Clinton did worst with men who are younger or political independents _ the same groups where Obama did best.
Ann Lewis, senior adviser to Clinton, said Clinton's leadership ability and the family issues like health care she emphasizes would eventually win over more males.
"I think we have room to grow among men," said Lewis.
Thompson's support from 24 percent of men was virtually tied with Giuliani's 22 percent, and better than the 18 percent who favor Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Thompson draws most of his strength from men over age 45 and married men _ who tend to be more conservative than their younger and single counterparts.
Giuliani, the former New York mayor, leads easily among GOP women, winning 26 percent compared to 16 percent for McCain and 12 percent for both Thompson and Mitt Romney. Giuliani, more moderate than Thompson on abortion and other social issues, gets 54 percent of his support from women.
"To say he has a problem with women misses the point," John McLaughlin, Thompson's pollster, said of the candidate. "Thompson has surged and he's in first place among men now and he's not even in the race. The women voters, they'll be there."
Typifying Thompson's situation is Carolyn Baughn, 70, a retired legal secretary from Jackson, Miss., who says she has seen his television show.
"I haven't seen him make any real political statements, or have to make any decisions that would pertain to the people of the United States, and I think that means a lot," said Baughn, a Giuliani supporter.
Also supporting Giuliani is Cheryl Simonich, 50, a training coordinator in West Jordan, Utah, who liked his calm during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. She expressed surprise he was doing well among women.
"He's no George Clooney, you know," she said, referring to the handsome actor.
The AP-Ipsos poll taken July 9 to 11 involved telephone interviews with 1,004 adults and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
For the combined June and July polls, the margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for Republicans and plus or minus 3 percentage points for Democrats.
“A big guy that exudes power and a huge dose of southern charm....”
LOL....guess I just don’t see it.
I do know some wonderfully charming, very handsome, and powerful southern men from Tennessee, but not all big, ‘powerful’ southern men are charming (or sexy)....Think fellow Tennessean Al Gore ;) ewww, ewww, ewww
Just because it doesn't make any sense you you, doesn't mean that it hasn't been happening, and won't continue to happen. I stand by my statement.
Every woman in America needs to know that Hillary talks a good game about violence and women, but this YouTube exposes how a man who trafficked in women, including young women, laundered 645K to the DNC through Charlie Trie. He made many visits to the Clinton White House and spent two nights in the residence quarters. Please see that others see this -— http://youtube.com/watch?v=jx1JDiXtwsQ
Don' think she had much confidence in him,either.
With Hillary, this is understandable. Would I want to listen to a screeching voice like that? What if my wife sounded like that!?
With Thompson, as a man it's hard for me to say whether he is attractive or not - that's for the women to decide. I will say that his decicion to marry a woman decades his junior raises eyebrows about possible shallow character, and may make some women (quite understandably) uncomfortable with him. That's a choice he made earlier in life, and he must live with the consequences.
Of course, all of this is immaterial when set beside competance and ideology.
What kind of “man” supports Hillary anyway?
Thompson is doing better in the polls than most who have actually declared. He definitely has some momentum.
Hillary is VERY good at sending her goons out to threaten and intimidate women who have had affairs with her husband. I'm sure LOTS of women can identify with that, helping their husband cheat on them.
Fred is winning me because he seems a lighter version twin of Russell Thompkins Jr - the MAGICAL singer of THE Stylistics
Interesting analysis of the crowd at a recent Clinton visit to New Hampshire:
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070807/NEWS01/208070358
• While the former president “completely believes” his wife would be an excellent president, he does not think she will be elected, at least not in 2008.
• The audience for the rally was “heavily populated by alpha females.” The report went on to say, “These were not ‘earth mothers’ or ‘madonnas,’ but definitely ‘goddesses,’ women who were aware of and comfortable with their own power.”
• Men in the audience were guarded in their statements about Hillary Clinton, but women were committed.
• The senator’s campaign staff had “an astounding number of alpha females,” but no alpha males.
The results were collected through trained observations of the crowd...
if you can believe the ap.
anecdotal evidence:
i have a retired, union, tv-moron neighbor,
she says she would vote for fred.
why fred? because based upon her tv viewing of his shows,
“he would mean what he says.”
she will not vote for hillary.
The bit about Hillary wowing her own gender is bogus. There have been several articles about how women dislike her.
Here’s one: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1808602/posts
Women will be the DOWNFALL of our nation! TOO EMOTIONAL!
I think you will be surprised at how many women will back Fred.
That is because of her HUGH hips and legs!
A very confused one.
During the last election here in California, Tom McClintock was the absolute best candidate running for ANY statewide office, but he lost.
Arnold, on the other hand, is hated by the far left and has turned his back on his own party, and he still won overwhelmingly.
Here, in the third millennium, it's celebrity that sells. And if the GOP wants to win, they'll nominate Fred or Rudy. The best we can hope for is getting the most conservative celebrity available, and that is Fred.
It may not be right, but that's the way it is.
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