A majority of Democrats think Barack Obama should select Hillary Clinton as his running mate, according to a new national poll. Fifty-four percent of registered Democrats questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Friday think Obama should name his rival as his running mate; 43 percent disagreed.| The 43% understand the need to keep the stake in her heart ... |
Men and women don't see eye-to-eye on the question. Sixty percent of Democratic women said Clinton should be Obama's running mate, but only 46 percent of male Democrats agreed, while 51 percent of them said no.
" 'What do women want?' Sigmund Freud famously asked," said Bill Schneider, CNN senior political analyst. "The answer appears to be Clinton on the ticket. It's pretty clear that many Democratic women are miffed and that Obama has to be very careful how he deals with Sen. Clinton."
Twenty-four percent of those polled said that even if Obama names someone else as his running mate, Clinton should try to override that decision at the Democratic convention in Denver in August. But 75 percent said that would not be a good idea.
"Democrats would like Barack Obama to choose Hillary Clinton as his running mate, but they seem to recognize that it is his choice to make," said Keating Holland CNN polling director. "Some will be disappointed if Obama does not pick Clinton, but not disappointed enough to want a floor fight at the convention."
The survey also found that the economy remains the top issue in the minds of a plurality of Americans. Forty-two percent of those polled said the economy will be the most important issue in their decision on the presidency. Iraq remains in second place, selected by 24 percent as the most important issue for them, while health care was selected as most important by 12 percent.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted Wednesday and Thursday, with 921 registered voters, including 435 registered voters who describe themselves as Democrats or independents who lean Democratic. The sampling error for most results is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.