U.S. women supportive, skeptical of Clinton: poll

U.S. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton applauds during an event sponsored by planned parenthood in Washington, July 17, 2007.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More women than men have a favorable opinion of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, but many female voters have negative feelings about her, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll released on Thursday.

Women tend to agree with the New York senator and former first lady on the issues and see her as a strong leader. More than eight in 10 working women said Clinton, seeking to become the first female U.S. president, understood their problems. A majority of single women viewed her favorably, the poll found.

But married women were split on Clinton and 51 percent of women aged 45 to 64 had a negative opinion of her. Almost 40 percent of all men and 28 percent of women said they definitely would not vote for her.

The poll found 45 percent of all women had a favorable opinion of Clinton, while an equal amount of men viewed her unfavorably. Among men, Clinton had a 36 percent favorable rating. Thirty-one percent of women viewed her unfavorably.

Regardless of how they intend to vote, more than 80 percent of all men and women polled said they thought it very likely or somewhat likely Clinton would win the Democratic nomination, the Times said.

Sixty-three percent of voters in the poll said it was likely Clinton would win the presidency.

The survey showed Clinton with a 43 percent to 24 percent lead over her closest rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, among all respondents to the poll.

That finding was consistent with other recent polls showing Clinton leading Democratic White House contenders six months before the first votes in the nominating race and 16 months before the November 2008 election.

The latest New York Times/CBS poll found voters remained split about Clinton, with the percentage of voters who view her unfavorably, at 40 percent, higher than for any of the other major candidates for president, the Times reported.

The telephone poll was conducted July 9 to Tuesday with 1,554 respondents, including 1,068 women. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.