The frontrunners for the Democratic Presidential nomination are a woman and an African-American male, but 46% of American voters say it is likely that Democrats will end up nominating a white male in 2008. That figure is down from 60% in January.

Despite the current support for Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, Democrats are even more likely than other voters to believe their party will nominate a white male. Fifty-three percent (53%) of Democrats believe that’s the likely outcome while 40% say it is not very likely.

Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards is the only white male candidate with double digit support from Democratic Primary Voters at this time. However, he lags far behind Clinton and Obama both in the polls and in fundraising.

Overall, 20% of the nation’s voters say it is Very Likely that Democrats will nominate a white male and 26% say it is Somewhat Likely. Those figures are down from 25% and 35% respectively in January.

Thirty-one percent (31%) say the Democrats are Not Very Likely to nominate a white male. That’s up from 20% in the earlier survey. Seven percent (7%) say Democrats are Not at all Likely to nominate a white male, a figure that remains unchanged from the earlier survey.

Fifty-one percent (51%) of women expect Democrats to nominate a white male. That assessment is shared by 40% of men. Fifty-eight percent (58%) of self-identified liberals say the nominee is likely to be a white male.

The survey also found that 68% of voters say they personally would be willing to vote for a woman who is running for President. That’s down from 78% in January. Currently, 51% say their family, friends, and co-workers would be willing to vote for a woman. That’s unchanged since January. If Senator Hillary Clinton continues as the Democratic frontrunner, responses to these generic questions are likely to be impacted by perceptions of Clinton herself.

Seventy-three percent (73%) say they’d be willing to vote for an African-American Presidential candidate. That’s down from 79% in January. Fifty-one percent (51%) say their family, friends, and co-workers would be willing to vote for an African-American candidate. That’s down from 55% in the previous survey.

Older voters are less likely to support a woman candidate or an African-American candidate. Among the nation’s senior citizens, just 63% say the personally would vote for a woman and only 37% say their family, friends, and neighbors would do the same.

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