Part IV Poll Results

ANNOUNCER: The Kathy and Judy Show, Radio 720 WGN

MARKEY: We have a PBS crew in the studio right now, they're doing an election special and they wanted to hear some of your thoughts on the role of a first lady.

Dave, let me ask you this, do you think it would be, that it is appropriate for a first lady to be a trusted confidante to the president, confidante.

DAVE: Absolutely, absolutely.

MARKEY: They should be.

DAVE: There's no question. They are the first family and so that would mean like for me, since I'm married and have two kids, if my wife does something wrong, the whole family is there, is looked upon, it's not just herself.

O'MALLEY: Okay.

MARKEY: Dave, when you say that do you consider then a candidate's spouse to be a big part of the decision?

DAVE: Absolutely.

MARKEY: So, you're voting for a team?

DAVE: I, there's no question.

MARKEY: Okay.

DAVE: When a man marries a woman they are a team.

RADIO PRODUCER: WGN, good morning, you calling in about that first lady topic? All right, what did you want to say about it?

MARKEY: Lynne, is it important to you who the first lady would be?

LYNNE: I see them as a team. I see how they relate to one another and that kinda gives you an idea of how the candidate would relate to people.

MARKEY: But, if you didn't like her and you were crazy about him would it change your vote?

LYNNE: I think I would still vote for him.

MARKEY: You would?

LYNNE: Yeah.

MARKEY: Do you think that the woman should have an outside job, the first lady?

DAVE: No, because uh, in my mind, it's her, her job to be a figure head of who she established with is the president of the United States.

O'MALLEY: Okay.

MARKEY: Dave has very, very specific feelings.

MARKEY: Lavon.

LAVON: Hi.

MARKEY: What about having a paid job in the private sector?

LAVON: I don't know about a paid job, um, because there could possibly be conflict … conflicts of interest. Um.

O'MALLEY: Well Judith Dean, for instance, is a doctor and they had said when Howard Dean was running that she wanted to keep her job…

LAVON: Hmmm.

O'MALLEY AND MARKEY: Hmmm. [laughter]

O'MALLEY: …as a doctor. You don't like that idea?

LAVON: No, oh, yeah that's tricky because I, you know my gut feeling is to say, you know, if she wants to work, you know, let her work.

MARKEY: Your gut feeling is to say it and yet you say…

O'MALLEY AND MARKEY: Hmmm.

LAVON: [laughter] Yeah.

CALLER: Hi.

MARKEY: Hi, same question but let's switch it to if the man is the first person and it's the lady in the White House. Do you think that he should have an outside paid job?

CALLER: You know that's funny, because the minute the man won't work than he is riding on the woman's coat tails so to speak, you know? I think he would be looked at funny for not working. "What are you lazy, what's wrong with you?"

MARKEY: Dee.

DEE: Yes, I don't think the first lady should work, so I don't think the first husband should work either outside. Cause it's traditionally been a position of representing of our country as the first lady, so I guess the first gentleman would … I would look at that same way.

MARKEY: Thanks for the call.

ANNOUNCER: The Kathy and Judy Show, Radio 720 WGN

USA Today results from first lady poll

We asked half our respondents about appropriate roles for a first lady -- and we asked the other half what roles were appropriate for a first man if we had a woman president, to see if there were any gender differences. We found that an overwhelming majority found it appropriate for a first spouse, male or female, to be a trusted confidante to the president.

An overwhelming number also approved of the first spouse having an unpaid job with a nonprofit foundation. Good news for Teresa Heinz Kerry, who would want to keep her current job.

Gender differences did show up when we asked about holding a paid job in the private sector. Sixty-four percent say it's OK for the first man. Only half say it's OK for the first lady.

Another area where gender differences show up: Significantly more people say it is appropriate for a first man to hold elected office than it is for a first lady.

So are Americans ready for an activist first lady or a woman president?

KELLYANNE CONWAY: The American public still seems to be of two minds on how far they believe a woman should go either as first lady or president. In poll after poll after poll, you will see majorities of enthusiasm and support for the idea of a woman president, the idea of an active, intelligent, professional, successful-in-her own-right, on-her-own-terms first lady. But, whoa. The moment that you put that idea into practice and match a name and a face and a career and an aspiration with it, Americans tend to recoil.

ALLIDA BLACK: The - the American public is increasingly comfortable with women in leadership positions that are very different. I'm talking about Madeleine Albright as secretary of state. I'm talking about Condoleezza Rice as national security advisor. I'm talking about women dying in combat in Iraq. These are cultural changes. They've really set the stage, I think, for a woman to move from being first lady to president.