Voters dismiss 'piling on' charge

[babylonsister]

Voters dismiss 'piling on' charge

By Stephen Dinan
November 13, 2007


Most Americans reject the charge that other presidential candidates are "piling on" Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to a new Fox 5/The Washington Times/Rasmussen Reports poll.

Only 25 percent of voters said recent criticism of Mrs. Clinton constitutes piling on, the survey found, and of those, less than half said she was the target because she is a woman.

"The vast majority of Americans are treating Senator Clinton as a front-running presidential candidate, not as a women who happens to be running for president," said pollster Scott Rasmussen, adding that the poll's questions, taken together, show less than 15 percent of Democrats think she's being picked on as a woman.

"She's being accepted as a serious candidate, rather than anything else," he said.

It's not clear that's not the way her campaign would have it. She has said she is challenging "the all-boys club of presidential politics," and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, yesterday said "those boys have been getting tough on her lately."

Mrs. Clinton's status as the first major-party female candidate with a serious shot to win the presidency has come into focus after a debate two weeks ago in which she fumbled a question on driver's licenses. Her campaign argued she was treated unfairly by the moderator and released a Web video arguing the other candidates were trying to "pile on."

But the new poll says most aren't convinced — with 57 percent disagreeing and another 18 percent not sure about the piling on charge.

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http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071113/NATION/111130048/1001