Presidents' Day Poll: Hillary Slips, Condi Gains Ground In Once-A-Year Poll On Women and the Presidency

The prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidential candidacy has lost some support from last President's Day to this, while more people think Condoleezza Rice should toss her hat into the ring in 2008.

In an annual Presidents' Day poll done by the Sienna Research Institute for the the Hearst newspaper chain, 44% of voters questioned said Sen. Clinton should not run for president in '08. A year-ago 37% percent of those asked by the Sienna College polling unit were against a Clinton presidential bid. When the question was asked the other way, 51% said Clinton should run, down from 53% a year ago.

In the same twelve months, the number of voters who said Secretary of State Rice should run increased to 48% from 42%.

No matter which way you ask the question, the bottom line is support for a Clinton bid has eroded a bit in a year's time, while support for Rice has risen.

The poll did not pit the women against one-another.

The survey found that 79% of voters said they personally would vote for a woman for president, but only 64% said they felt the nation was ready to have a woman in the Oval Office. That is up two percentage points from last year.

By party, 91% of Democrats said they would be willing to vote for a woman for president compared to 68% of Republicans.

The survey found that a majority of registered voters thought a woman president would handle national-security issues as well as a male commander-in-chief.