Female voters heed character issue

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By Adrienne T. Washington

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Hard to believe that nearly a year ago readers of Ladies' Home Journal ranked former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, as the happiest of all the couples on the 2008 campaign trail.

In light of Mr. Edwards' clumsy admission to an extramarital affair with a campaign worker, the magazine's editors have re-released the survey from October. It shows that 35 percent of female respondents, regardless of party affiliation, said their opinion of the happiness of a presidential candidate's marriage will influence their vote.

Women tend to look "not just at [the candidate's] policies but at what kind of person they seem to be," said Robbie Caploe, executive editor of Ladies' Home Journal. But "perceptions are not always reality."

Among those answering the survey, "the largest percentage of women feel that Elizabeth and John Edwards (67 percent) and Michelle and Barack Obama (66 percent) have a happy marriage. About one-half mentioned Cindy and John McCain (52 percent)."

Only 33 percent felt that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Bill Clinton have a happy marriage.

The Ladies' Home Journal survey is just one window into how important a candidate's character is to female voters, who comprise the largest voting bloc in the country.

However, the matrimonial state of the presumptive presidential nominees, Republican John McCain and Democrat Mr. Obama, is hardly the most influential factor at this juncture.

Michelle Bernard, president and chief executive officer of the Independent Women's Forum, said women's concerns have shifted from national security and the war in the past two years.

"They are overwhelmingly concerned about pocketbook issues," she said of the 2008 presidential election, which she predicts will be decided by centrists and independent voters.