POLL: Democrats Express Decided Preference for Change Over Experience

[jefferson_dem]

I wonder if Hillary will continue with her celebration of "the system" given these numbers...

September 04, 2007
Democrats Express Decided Preference for Change Over Experience
Seventy-three percent favor presidential candidate who strongly desires to change Washington

by Jeffrey M. Jones

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- The Democratic presidential nomination could well be decided on the basis of whether Democratic primary and caucus voters prefer an experienced candidate or one who would make changing the way things are done in Washington his or her top priority.

Hillary Clinton -- with a comfortable lead in nomination preference polling at this point -- is making her case for the nomination on the basis of her extensive experience in Washington, including her eight years as first lady and her six-plus years as a U.S. senator. Her closest competitors, Barack Obama and John Edwards, have much less federal government experience -- Edwards served one six-year term in the U.S. Senate, and Obama is in his third year as a U.S. senator. Not surprisingly, Obama and Edwards are attempting to portray themselves as Washington outsiders and are focusing their campaign message on their ability to bring change to the nation's capital.

In spite of Clinton's comfortable lead in nomination preference polls, a recent Gallup Panel survey finds that -- in theory, at least -- Democrats by a large margin attach more importance to a candidate who would bring about change than to one who has experience.

The Aug. 23-26 Gallup Panel survey posed the following questions to Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents:

Which will be more important to you when deciding which candidate to support for president in next year's election -- ?

The results of this forced-choice question were lopsided in favor of "change" -- 73% of Democrats said changing the system would be more important to their decision about whom to support, while only 26% opted for "experience."

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http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=28591