McCain closes huge gap on key question for women

China Daily

Updated: 2008-09-23 07:53

Since picking Sarah Palin as his running mate, John McCain has obliterated what had been a 34-percentage-point deficit in a poll of likely women voters on the question of which candidate has a "better understanding of women and what is important" to them.

The two are now effectively tied, with McCain's 44 to 42 percentage lead within the margin of error of the most recent poll conducted by pollsters Kellyanne Conway and Celinda Lake for Lifetime Television. In Lifetime's July poll, women preferred Barack Obama on the same question by nearly three-to-one -- 52 to 18 percent.

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and his running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, wave at a rally in Media, Pa., Monday, September 22, 2008.

In this latest poll, conducted Sept. 11-15, age remained a key determinant in response to the question about women’s concerns. Young women, ages 18-34, chose the Obama/Biden ticket as more empathetic to their needs, while women aged 35-64 went for McCain/Palin. Unlike black and Hispanic women, White women saw McCain and Palin as most understanding of their concerns.

About one in four women who supported Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the primaries now said McCain and Palin have a better grasp of women’s needs than Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden.

The Lifetime poll reveals a diversity of women's views on several issues, with many of those differences related to a respondent’s race, party identity, marital status and generation.

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http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2008-09/23/content_7049411.htm