With Hillary Clinton scheduled to make her first solo campaign appearance for Barack Obama this Friday, more than seven out of 10 Democrats (72%) rate her conduct as good or excellent since dropping out of the presidential race. Sixty percent (60%) of all voters agree.

But a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 43% of Democrats still say Obama should not pick Clinton to be his vice presidential running mate, although nearly the same number (42%) think she should be on the ticket. When likely Obama voters are asked, 40% favor choosing her, but 46% are opposed.

Voters overall say no to a Clinton vice presidential selection 50% to 31%.

In early June, just after Obama secured enough delegates to get his party’s nomination, 51% of Democrats polled by Rasmussen Reports thought Obama should choose her as his running mate.

The new survey also finds that 63% of Democrats – and 62% of all voters -- think it is likely that Clinton will run for president in 2012 if Obama loses this November.

Perhaps reflective of Clinton’s refusal to exploit divisions in her own party since quitting the presidential race on June 7, 55% of Democrats say she wants Obama to win the White House, while only 22% disagree. Likely Obama voters give her even higher marks in this area. But voters overall are much more skeptical – and evenly divided: 40% say Clinton wants Obama to beat Republican John McCain, but 35% say she doesn’t.

Clinton’s decision to quit the race was highly emotional for her supporters, including many women who hoped she would be the first woman candidate of a major national political party. Democrats feared that a large portion of these women voters might not support Obama, even though Clinton and her husband, the former president, have gone out of their way to endorse Obama’s candidacy.

The Obama campaign on Tuesday announced Clinton’s first solo appearances for the candidate -- in Nevada on Friday and south Florida on August 21.

Still, indicative of the potential for division within the party is a march and rally Clinton supporters plan during the Democratic National Convention to honor her run and to urge that her name be placed in nomination. The events are set for August 26, the day Clinton is expected to speak to the convention and the 88th anniversary of women’s suffrage.

Overall, voters by a 47% to 34% margin say Obama will do better against McCain than Clinton. Democrats agree – 56% saying Obama will do better, 34% that Clinton would. For half of unaffiliated voters (50%), Obama is the stronger candidate against McCain, but 31% of unaffiliateds prefer Clinton.
In a survey in mid-July, Clinton was seen as a better candidate against McCain than Obama.

Even women think Obama makes a stronger candidate against McCain than Clinton by a 44% to 38% margin. Men favor Obama over Clinton in the match-up with the GOP candidate 51% to 31%.

Sixty-four percent (64%) of women rate Clinton’s conduct since the beginning of June as good or excellent, and the identical number (64%) expect her to run for the presidency if Obama loses.

Thirty-eight percent (38%) of women – but only 23% of men -- think Obama should pick Clinton as his running mate. Forty-four percent (44%) of female voters and 56% of male voters disagree.

Forty percent (40%) of African-Americans rate Clinton’s behavior Excellent since dropping out of the race, but 59% want Obama to pick someone else as his running mate. Forty-two percent (42%) of black voters believe Clinton wants to see Obama win, but 30% disagree.

A survey in late July found that among the possible Democratic vice presidential candidates, Clinton was second only to former North Carolina Senator John Edwards in terms of favorability among voters.

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