In the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, the gender, age, race and ethnicity of the voter play significant roles in whom Democrats and independents identify as the Democratic candidate who would make the best commander in chief of the military, according to data released today by the National Annenberg Election Survey.
The study showed that women were more likely to select New York Sen. Hillary Clinton over Illinois Sen. Barack Obama as the best choice for commander in chief (44% to 38%), while men were more likely to select Sen. Obama over Sen. Clinton (44% to 37%).
Younger people were more likely to say that Sen. Obama would make the best commander in chief, while older people were more likely to say that Sen. Clinton would be the best choice. Whites and Latinos gave Sen. Clinton the edge on the selection. Among whites in the study, 45 percent said that they thought Sen. Clinton would make the best commander in chief of the military in comparison to 37 percent who selected Sen. Obama as the best choice. Latinos were also more likely to choose Sen. Clinton (44%) over Sen. Obama (34%).
African-Americans were 2.5 times more likely to choose Sen. Obama (61%) over Sen. Clinton (24%) as the best choice of the Democratic candidates for commander in chief. The differences between whites and African-Americans and the differences between Latinos and African-Americans were statistically significant.
Data for this study were collected between February 1 and March 11 among 6,940 adults who did not identify with the Republican Party. (For more survey details, see Appendix.)
