A mostly female crowd surrounds Hillary Clinton during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania. (CHARLES DHARAPAK/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)
by Katie Fretland
Barack Obama claimed victory last night in becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, but Democratic women voters held out for Hillary Clinton as the end neared, Gallup reports.
According to an analysis of more than 12,000 interviews of Democratic voters in May, women Democrats favor Clinton by a margin of 49 to 45 percent, compared to Obama. Democratic men favor Obama over Clinton by 57 to 37 percent, the polling found.
"As has been well demonstrated this year, there are enormous differences among racial and ethnic groups of Democrats in candidate preferences between Obama and Clinton, but the current analysis shows that Clinton's disproportionate appeal among women (and Obama's among men) persists even when race and ethnicity are controlled for," Gallup Poll Editor-in-Chief Frank Newport writes.
Clinton's popularity among women is evident in the polling of white Hispanic voters and non-Hispanic white voters of the Democratic party. More than 60 percent of white Hispanic Democratic women voters favor Clinton, as well as 57 percent of non-Hispanic white Democratic women voters, the poll shows. Clinton is considerably less popular among black Democratic women voters, who favor her by 14 percent (81 percent favor Obama).
"The other demographic dimensions that have clearly differentiated patterns of support among Democrats this year are age and education," Gallup reports. "Overall, Obama has great strength among younger Democrats and among Democrats with higher levels of education, while Clinton's strength of support is among older, less well-educated voters."
For additional information, see the Gallup report here.
• 
• 
• 
Comments
The Dem contest has been a race and gender war for a long time.
In the end, there were a few more Democrats who vote based on skin color than there were Democrats who vote by gender.
Posted by: Bruce | June 4, 2008 8:04 AM
the reason hillary refuses to concede is plain and simple about the money she s going to fleece her flock to pay of the debt she ran up because she would not face the fact s show you how much she care s for the little people
Posted by: show me | June 4, 2008 8:35 AM
In the end, there were a few more Democrats who vote based on skin color than there were Democrats who vote by gender.
Posted by: Bruce | June 4, 2008 8:04 AM
and the republicans will vote for........drum roll please..........an old white man.
.........SURPRISE..............
Posted by: bill "Hussein" r. | June 4, 2008 8:58 AM
RNC Bruce,
There were also a lot of us who voted for who we think will be the best president to lead us out of the unmitigated disaster commonly known as the Bush presidency.
Posted by: Doug Zook | June 4, 2008 9:04 AM
Hillary got the woman vote because they are good honest hard working loyal people who saw the right woman who is qualified and ready to run America. They didn't fall for the snake oil salesman with the UnAmerican wife who is a political corrupt hack from the Daley Machine in Chicago.
Posted by: BCC | June 4, 2008 9:09 AM
After watching John McCain's speech last night, I feel quite confident Obama can gain almost all of Hillary's supporters over the course of the next five months. There will be hard-liners who will vote for McCain or not vote at all, but they will be few and insignificant.
Congratulations, Barack!!
Posted by: Susan | June 4, 2008 9:41 AM
A man who calls women, "sweetie" and has gay-hating speakers at his rallies for black voters is not a man to be trusted by women and gay voters.
Posted by: Tom Bpston | June 4, 2008 9:42 AM
The more I see of Lisa Madigan, the more I see the future. She may well be President some day, and when she runs she'll get the support of as many men as women.
What I found very troubling about Hillary's base of support was that it was so narrow and limited. You can't run a country based on that.
Posted by: Tom J | June 4, 2008 9:50 AM
Not only did she win among women but she actually WON THE POPULAR VOTE. Obama supporters can spin it anyway they want but the bottom line is more people voted for Clinton than voted for Obama.
Posted by: Vinny | June 4, 2008 10:04 AM
Many Hillary supporters feel downright ROBBED right now. Obama needs to bring them back - he also needs to do far better with white catholics, rural voters, blue collars and elderly, particularly in key states east of the Misssissippi. Can he do it? Stay tuned.
Posted by: KGoldberg | June 4, 2008 10:10 AM
Bruce,
I know facts are something you know nothing about but black people are a minority and women make up about 50% of the population. So in other words your claim does not stand up to even slight scrutiny.
Posted by: jo | June 4, 2008 10:20 AM
People keep pushing the point that "Hillary won the popular vote".
Notice how many Hillary voters choose to neglect the fact that in Michigan, all Democratic nominees EXCEPT Hillary took their names off the ballot.
Gee... it's really tough to win an election when nobody else's name is on there.
Posted by: Melime | June 4, 2008 10:36 AM
The history of the Ridiculous Republicans in the past 40 years has been one of card playing, especially the racial and gender card, from Phyllis Schafly to Pastor Hagee. Their trump card has always been the fear/smear card, they always play it towards the end of the game. They play it in order to stop the voters from thinking, they need reaction, in order for them to win. Otherwise, their positions are so untenable, they are forced to lie, obfuscate, fabricate and of course, facilitate corporate takeover of America's life !! If you want abortions outlawed, social security destroyed, corporations getting away with murder, wars, every other week, than you want the Ridiculous Republicans. If you want an America that is truly compassionate, that believes healthcare is a right, that her workers are as important as any other member of our society than you will want to vote for us, the Democrats. We will make America stronger and freer, under the leadership of Senator Obama, our nominee for President of the United States !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, Chicago | June 4, 2008 10:50 AM
Hey Melime, ya everyone else took their names off the ballet in Michigan but you fail to mention Floridas outcome in this equation. All the pundits predicted HRC would have won Michigan as well. The facts are facts sweetie, HRC has the popular vote and Obama does not have my vote. end of story
Posted by: Scot S. Blakeley | June 4, 2008 10:53 AM
As far as I am concerned, this is the kind of reporting statistic that holds us all down. Hillary, with her divisive politics, fueled if not created this schism, and women, who SHOULD have been voting based on QUALITIES of a potential candidate, instead voted for hillary because she was a women and she spoke for them and their perceived oppression/discrimination. (Too bad these voters don't remember her condescending comment about not staying home to bake cookies....) Somewhere along the line, these women need to realize that integrity, honesty, straightforwardness, genuine concern and compassion, intelligence, and good judgment are not gender-specific. We can wait for the right woman....
Posted by: tony | June 4, 2008 11:02 AM
After I hit the "send" button I realized I misspelled "women" --should have read, "because she is a woman" not "women, sorry!
Posted by: tony | June 4, 2008 11:04 AM
HRC has the popular vote and Obama does not have my vote. end of story
Posted by: Scot S. Blakeley | June 4, 2008 10:53 AM
Don't waste any time starting to support the war. Start today. Tell us why Iraq was a great idea and tell us you support this war. Any vote or non vote other than the democratic nominee is just that...a vote for the war.
Posted by: bill "Hussein" r. | June 4, 2008 11:20 AM
Don't waste any time starting to support the war. Start today. Tell us why Iraq was a great idea and tell us you support this war. Any vote or non vote other than the democratic nominee is just that...a vote for the war.
Posted by: bill "Hussein" r. | June 4, 2008 11:20 AM
So what y ou are saying is that i should vote for someone i do not agree with? That I shol dvote for someone who does not have thepopular vote? That I should vote for someone who might or might not end the war? Sorry buddy but I vote with my conscience and mine says Obama is not the right person to run our country.
And Tonym base on your assumptions one could easliy say that blacks only voted for Obama because he is black right? lets face it many woman and many blacks voted based on color and gender just as many are voting based on age and experience.
Posted by: Scot S. Blakeley | June 4, 2008 11:59 AM
Not only did she win among women but she actually WON THE POPULAR VOTE. Obama supporters can spin it anyway they want but the bottom line is more people voted for Clinton than voted for Obama.
Posted by: Vinny | June 4, 2008 10:04 AM
How many of those "popular" votes were Republican spoilers? Spin it anyway you want, but this is the way the Democrat primary system functions, and he came out on top.
I feel embarrassed for my gender that women voted for Hillary because they are so anxious to have a female president. A woman who would have gotten the office on the basis of her husband's name? Yeah, real achievement for feminism. I'm just so relieved that the dynasty cycle has been broken.
Posted by: DD | June 4, 2008 12:24 PM
OK, anybody wanna explain to me what a "white Hispanic voter" is? Isn't bad enough we're parsing the population into racial and gender groups? Do we have to subdivide the racial groups into subgroups to satisfy the media? I live in San Jose, California, and I can guarantee that the label "white Hispanic" would be deeply offensive to many Latinos. You might as well subdivide whites into Evangelicans and other various religious subgroups, too. Sheesh!
Posted by: Smiggy Whynot | June 4, 2008 12:57 PM
So DD these so called Republican Spoilers only voted for HRC and not Obama is that what you are saying? Go back to the Grassy Knoll you might find a few spoilers there too!
Posted by: Scot S. Blakeley | June 4, 2008 1:01 PM
Sorry buddy but I vote with my conscience and mine says Obama is not the right person to run our country.
Posted by: Scot S. Blakeley | June 4, 2008 11:59 AM
As I said...then go vote for the continuation of the war. I guess the war doesn't play on your concience, you're fine with it. Thats OK you can support the war if you wish. I simply said that any vote or none vote is a vote to continue the war. Please...just don't be one of the posters a year or two or more years from now....complaining about the war. You had your shot....you blew it.
Posted by: bill "Hussein" r. | June 4, 2008 1:09 PM
They only 'held out for Clinton' because Clinton held out in desperation for herself, and the media held out in support and fear of Clinton. It is awful what Clinton is being allowed to still do. Obama clinched the nomination last night and she now needs to get off the playing field, period, and throw her support behind him, like she said she would do, and tell all her supporters to throw their support behind him also like she said she would do. And P.S. Hillary Clinton DOES NOT have the popular vote, and she never has had the popular vote. Whether it's Bosnia sniper fire or popular votes, she's all the way delusional.
Posted by: RuthieM | June 4, 2008 4:19 PM