EMILY's List Releases National Polling on McCain-Palin Ticket

Garin-Hart-Yang Poll Interviewed Women Voters and Hillary Clinton Supporters on Palin

Washington DC -- Today, EMILY’s List released a new national poll on what women voters, including Senator Hillary Clinton supporters, think of Governor Sarah Palin and the McCain-Palin ticket as compared to the Obama-Biden ticket.

Conducted by nationally respected pollster Geoff Garin of Garin-Hart-Yang, the poll surveyed 800 likely Democratic, Republican, and Independent women voters. Highlights of the findings include:

• This selection puts Senator John McCain squarely in the realm of politics over principle in women voters’ eyes.
• Governor Sarah Palin’s background and personal narrative are not particularly appealing to women voters, and she matches up poorly against Senator Joe Biden in terms of the potential to establish a compelling narrative.
• Governor Palin’s inclusion on the ticket squanders Senator McCain’s previous advantage over Senator Barack Obama with regard to experience and readiness to lead.
• Several of Governor Palin’s positions on issues, including her position on abortion, alienate large segments of the women’s electorate and add to the perception that the GOP ticket is out of step with women voters’ views and priorities.
• Even with the historic inclusion of a woman on the Republican ticket, women voters conclude that the Obama/Biden ticket is more in step with the issues and concerns that are important to women than is the McCain/Palin ticket.
• Finally, as these survey findings confirm, the Democratic presidential ticket of Senator Barack Obama and Senator Joe Biden continues to benefit from strong support of women voters.

The complete report is available on the EMILY’s List website here.

Conducted by a variety of respected Democratic pollsters, the EMILY’s List Women’s Monitor program has focused on a range of topics and key voter targets to build a comprehensive data file on the political views and voting behaviors of American women. In addition to survey research and focus groups, the Women’s Monitor has pioneered other innovative techniques to dispel myths about women voters and explain how they take in and digest political information.