CBS Poll: Gender Matters More Than Race

Voters Say Woman Candidate Faces Slightly Bigger Barriers To Presidency Than A Black Candidate

(CBS)  Voters are slightly more likely to say that a woman candidate faces more obstacles than a black candidate when it comes to presidential politics even as they see racism as a more serious problem for the nation overall, according to a new CBS News poll. Thirty nine percent of registered voters said a woman running for president faces more obstacles while 33 percent said a black candidate does.

When it comes to the 2008 presidential election, voters say Hillary Clinton has been judged more harshly because of her gender than Barack Obama has because of his race. Forty two percent said Clinton has been judged “more harshly” and six percent said she has been judged less harshly because of her gender. Twenty seven percent said they think Obama has been judged “more harshly” because of his race while 11 percent said he has been judged less harshly.

Still, racism is seen as a bigger problem for the nation in general. Among all adults surveyed, 42 percent of respondents said racism is a “serious problem” in the country compared to just 10 percent who said the same of sexism. Twenty three percent said both are serious problems.

More Americans report having recently heard what they consider racist remarks from people they know than sexist ones. Forty two percent of all surveyed, including 65 percent of blacks, said people they know have made racist remarks in the last few months. Thirty five percent, including 33 percent of women, say they have heard sexist remarks from someone they know recently. And all groups said they are more offended by racist remarks than sexist ones.

There continue to be differences in how voters judge their own voting instincts and the instincts of other Americans. Just 6 percent of white voters say that all things being equal, they would prefer to vote for a white candidate, but 34 percent of white voters say that most people they know would not vote for a black person for president. And 29 percent are not sure that American is ready to elect a black president.

Overall, 56 percent said most people they know would vote for a black candidate while 33 percent said most they know would not. Sixty two percent of all voters said America is ready for a black president but just 50 percent of blacks agreed.

More voters admit their unwillingness to vote for a woman. Nearly one in five voters says that all things being equal, they would rather vote for a man. Fewer than half say that most people they know would vote for a woman for president, although this response may now be intertwined with whether or not people think their acquaintances would vote for Hillary Clinton. Still, 59 percent say America is ready for a woman president.

Read The Complete Poll Results

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This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,067 adults nationwide interviewed by telephone March 15-18, 2008. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher.

NOTE: A small oversample of African Americans was also conducted for this poll, for a total of 122 interviews among this group. The results were then weighted in proportion to the racial composition of the adult population in the U.S. Census. The margin of error for African Americans is plus or minus nine percentage points.

[marcomar-2009]

I am beginning to see that this is less about Obama and more about insecure Democrats. It seems that the problem with many of you is that you harbor ill will and use the Internet to pass judgment and venom. You say you don''t like Barack because of a 30 second sound bite of his preacher, without knowing not only the full context, but the nature of the struggle of the people of that congregation. Then the others that don''t like Hillary because she is a woman is not only ignorant, but shows that this country is far behind the rest of western civilization. Bush messed us up bad and I don''t know that we''ll ever recover. It''s time for some of you to learn that country trumps party and candidate. My suggestion for you bigots is to get out of the tiny block that you live in and do some traveling, see the world and meet other people. Maybe you will find some enlightenment. And as far as this article is concerned, I am not aware of any women that have been hanged, beaten by police, bitten by dogs or assaulted by water hoses or purposely infected with Syphilis and not offered a cure for the purposes of study. Don''t get me wrong, women have a tremendous uphill climb for equality, but let us not forget that African American men as a whole have long been a target for racism and violence. You had the perfect chance to win the presidency post-Bush, and you blew it.

[pepperwood2]

How could this happen!

3 AM call to Whitehouse - Oct 3 1993 - Muslim extremists attack US Troops in Mogadishu, Somalia. 18 killed 90 wounded

The Clintons response: withdraw troops
Clintons decides to cut losses, but declares that American troops are to be fully withdrawn from Somalia by March 31. The hunt for Aidid is abandoned, and US representatives are sent to resume negotiations with the warlord.

Builds Confidence of Muslim extremists to plan further action in Africa, Middle East, Europe & USA.

[jbgallo2]

Cadalezza Rice: Muffelor or Muffelee?? Anybody know?

[julib55]

Why the notion of superdelegates is a good idea gone bad: It presupposes that the superdelegates have the wisdom of the Founding Fathers.

[julib55]

To SCREAM: Listen to the news much lately? Rev. Wright''s church SELLS the videos of the services. Too bad people who''re ignorant of current events are allowed to vote!

[julib55]

JULIB55 comment, cont.

Obama is smug and insincere. The very cadence of his speechifying assaults my intuition. It''s modulated and studied, showing a complete lack of compassion and an inability to speak straight from the heart, sans a script, about an issue that''s so important.

And his adherence, for 20 years, to black liberation theology is an outright dealbreaker! Forget that people have copies of the tapes circulating privately or have watched longer coverage of Rev. Wrong on YouTube. Each 1-minute soundbite is enough to tell us all we need to know. You can''t campaign on a platform of transcending both racial and partisan divisions, and at the same time belong to an extremist, Afro- centric church with a pastor who spews hatred and bitterness instead of inspiring through love. IAnd what about Wright''s invective against Natalie Holloway? How do you explain that to her parents? It just doesn''t wash.

And from a practical standpoint, your boy, if he manages to steal the election from Sen. Clinton, will need to win independents and crossover Republicans in the general election, and he''s now lost too many of them. Not to mention the loss of the Democrats who''re about to be shut out in two states and the rest of us who would never vote for him!

Please, step away from the Kool-Aid. The only candidate fit to run the country is Hillary Clinton. And I intend, with thousands of others, to write in her name on the ballot if the Obamination steals her rightful place.

[julib55]

Obama proffers a new kind of politics: voter suppression. He''s happy, like the smarmiest of pols, to shut out 2 states'' worth of voters because it suits him. He cries "There are rules." Those "rules," imposed by Herr Dean and the Gang of Losers, were not made known to the VOTERS--"We, the people." Where was his foresight when he first heard about these rules? Why didn''t he speak up then? Why didn''t he run independent of any political party? Doing so would have constituted true change!

Where was his good judgment when he got mixed up with Rezko? I was also against giving Bush any war powers, so make me president. Easy to make those calls when you''re not privy to classified info or sitting in the Senate AT THE TIME OF THE VOTE. It''s easy to make the call when you''re not a senator from GROUND ZERO, which I lived right across from at the time. Most New Yorkers were in FAVOR OF HILLARY''S VOTE. Why is OK to adhere to the will of the people in a primary but not anytime else?

[scream12]

It is interesting that the Clinton camp saw the race card as the only way to win the nomination. Make no mistake that the directive to not only bring up the race card but to also take movies of the Pastor came from a woman desperate to win the nomination-Hillary Clinton. This is a sign of a very weak woman. Are we really interested in putting a person who will stop at nothing to get her way in the White House? Haven''t we had enough of this behavior with Bush? I am a white woman and I voted for Obama because he is intelligent, kind and has great character. We need to send a message to Ms. Clinton that we don''t need her kind in control of our country.

[blkpresident]

America needs a real Man at the helm, not a woMAN. Sorry to rain on your pipe-dream of a women becoming president, ''lil Hillary. Now you can go join Geraldine Ferraro as two footnotes in history as examples of women who tried to become vice-president and president. Almost only counts in horseshoes ladies.

[darrren12000]

interesting how clinton''s name was mentioned as perhaps shading the data, but not obama''s name.