New Lifetime/Zogby Poll Reveals Women in New Hampshire and Nationwide Poised for Record Voter Turnout

New Lifetime/Zogby Poll Reveals Women in New Hampshire and Nationwide Poised for Record Voter Turnout

Driven by Concerns about Education, Health Care, Iraq, Economy and Issues Rarely Addressed on Campaign Trail Including Violence Against Women and Equal Pay

- Among New Hampshire Women: Clinton Leads Obama 39-25; Romney Leads McCain 24-16, But... -

- "Iowa Effect" Could Change Everything: One Out of Four Would Switch If Their Candidate Doesn't Win in Iowa -

- On the Lighter Side: Clinton and Huckabee Most Likely to Keep New Year's Resolution -

NEW YORK, Dec. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With the New Hampshire primary approaching, a new Lifetime/Zogby poll of women shows Hillary Clinton leading among decided Democrats in the state, 39 percent to Barack Obama's 25 percent. John Edwards is third at 9 percent. Among decided New Hampshire Republicans, Mitt Romney leads with 23 percent, followed by John McCain at 16 percent, Mike Huckabee at 11 percent and Rudy Giuliani at 10 percent.

However, results show that many women in New Hampshire have yet to make up their minds about which candidate they will support in the primary. More than 40 percent of New Hampshire women are undecided, and nearly 30 percent say they are only leaning toward a particular candidate. Only one out of four women has definitely decided for whom she will vote on January 8th.

The poll also found an "Iowa Effect" that could change both contests dramatically, especially the Republican race. Overall, one in four New Hampshire women will switch candidates if her top pick does not place first in Iowa. More than 40 percent of McCain and Romney supporters say they will switch.

The survey, commissioned by Lifetime Networks as part of its nonpartisan, award-winning Every Woman Counts campaign, interviewed 1,000 women nationally and an additional 500 women in New Hampshire. The Every Woman Counts campaign, first launched in 1992 and now entering its fifth presidential election cycle, ensures that issues important to women are part of the campaign dialogue during election season; encourages women to run for public office; and motivates women to register and vote.

"Women are largely undecided about which presidential candidate they are supporting, and in New Hampshire, the primary is still very much up for grabs. They want to hear more from the candidates about issues like education, jobs and health care, gender violence and equal pay. Getting women's voices heard is why Lifetime launched the Every Woman Counts campaign and why we will be hosting the 'If I Were President' Forum with national leaders and women voters in New Hampshire, including many undecided voters, on January 5th," said Meredith Wagner, Executive Vice President, Public Affairs, Lifetime Networks.

Driven by concerns about the issues, more than nine out of ten women say they intend to vote in what would be a record turnout. More than 60 percent of women also say that voting in the 2008 presidential election is more important than ever before. Nationally, education is the number one concern for likely voters, followed closely by jobs and the economy, health care and the war in Iraq. Among the youngest women voters, age 18 to 24, prevention of violence and sexual assault is tied with education as most important. Equal pay ranked higher than foreign policy, environment and immigration.

On some issues, there is a notable distinction between New Hampshire women and women in the rest of the country. Iraq and health care are hotter issues in New Hampshire and education and the economy are somewhat lower priorities.

There is also a dramatic difference nationally on priorities between Republican women and Democratic women. Republicans choose homeland security and terrorism as their issue of greatest concern, but Democrats rank the issue tenth. Independents are closer to Democrats on this, ranking it eighth. Health care, the second concern for Democrats and Independents, ranks seventh for Republican women.

"These poll findings are particularly useful because they concentrate on a key part of the American electorate in the upcoming election -- women," said Fritz Wenzel, Director of Communications at Zogby International. "Our research shows moderates will be the voters who decide who the nominees and the next President will be, and women comprise 62 percent of moderates nationwide. At a time when a woman is in the top tier of candidates for the first time in U.S. history, it is important to measure how women voters are responding to her candidacy."

Although most women say they've never considered running for office themselves, three out of five would want their own daughter to run for president. Younger women 18 to 29 are even more likely to want their daughters to run.

"These findings indicate that the first viable woman candidate for president is a powerful role model for women of all ages," said Debbie Walsh, Director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. "Regardless of their support for Senator Clinton, women voters believe that her candidacy expands political opportunities for future generations of women."

Both nationally and in New Hampshire, Obama and Clinton are seen as representing "change," with Obama having a slight edge nationally as the agent of change and Clinton having a small lead in New Hampshire. Overall, Democratic candidates were more than twice as likely as Republican candidates to be seen as representing "change."

The poll also found an intriguing result among a small sample of minority women. Though further research is needed, minority women say they feel more compelled to support Hillary Clinton because she is a woman candidate than they are to vote for Barack Obama because he is a minority candidate.

Religion is playing a role in women's opinions of the candidates, with 60 percent of women nationally saying that a candidate's faith or religious beliefs matter a great deal (33%) or a little bit (27%). However, a majority of New Hampshire women say that a candidate's religion has no impact at all on their vote.

When it comes to marital status, 44 percent of women nationally say a candidate's marital status matters a great deal (17%) or a little bit (27%), and 42 percent of New Hampshire women think it matters a great deal (12%) or a little bit (30%).

The poll also found that the "Oprah Effect" on New Hampshire women was least positive among the youngest women voters. Among those under 30, nearly than one in three say that Oprah campaigning in New Hampshire would make them less likely to vote for Obama.

The survey asked several lifestyle questions to reveal voters' "comfort index" with candidates, including which one they'd like to be seated next to on an airplane during their holiday travel. Among Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton was the first choice for a seat companion and of the Republican candidates, Rudy Giuliani was the favorite.

Another lifestyle question explored voters' "trust index" of candidates, asking which candidates would be most likely to stick with their New Year's resolution. Mike Huckabee came in first with 18 percent among Republican women, followed by Mitt Romney and John McCain tied at 16 percent. Hillary Clinton placed first at 32 percent among Democratic women, followed by Barack Obama at 19 percent, and John Edwards at 12 percent.

Lifetime will be hosting an "If I Were President" Forum in New Hampshire, January 5th, at The Radisson Manchester/The Center of New Hampshire.

The New Hampshire event will be in partnership with the first-ever Every Woman Counts media and advocacy coalition, which includes Redbook, CosmoGIRL! and Marie Claire, as well as hundreds of national women's groups, including the American Association of University Women, Business and Professional Women/USA, Girl Scouts of America, League of Women Voters, and the National Council of Women's Organizations, representing tens of millions of women across the country.

Methodology:

Zogby International was commissioned by Lifetime to conduct a telephone survey of U.S. adult women from December 6th through December 8th, 2007. The target sample is 1000 interviews among a nationally representative sample of adult women and 500 interviews among a representative sample of New Hampshire adult women. The margin of error for the national sample is +/- 3.2 percentage points. The margin of error for the New Hampshire sample is +/-4.5 percentage points. Full results available upon request.

LIFETIME is the leader in women's television and one of the top-rated basic cable television networks. A diverse, multi-media company, LIFETIME is committed to offering the highest quality entertainment and information programming, and advocating a wide range of issues affecting women and their families. LIFETIME Television, LMN, Lifetime Real Women and Lifetime Digital (including LifetimeTV.com) are part of LIFETIME Entertainment Services, a 50/50 joint venture of The Hearst Corporation and The Walt Disney Company.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Lifetime Networks

CONTACT: Geralyn Lucas of Lifetime, +1-212-424-7066,
lucas@lifetimetv.com; or Nancy Bennett, +1-800-834-1110,
nancy@nancybennett.info

Web site:

http://www.lifetimetv.com/

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