Seventy-one percent (71%) of the nation’s voters say they would be willing to vote for a woman for President. Seventeen percent (17%) say they would not and 11% are not sure.

Results are similar when asked about voting for an African-American—73% are willing to cast such a vote, 14% are not, and 13% are not sure.

Seven percent (7%) of Democrats say they would not vote for a woman. Nine percent (9%) would not vote for an African-American.

Among political moderates, 12% say they would not vote for a woman. Fifteen percent (15%) would not vote for an African-American.

All of these numbers are undoubtedly influenced by the fact that a particular woman and a particular African-American are in the midst of an historic campaign that could land one of them in the White House next January (Rasmussen Markets data on Sunday morning shows that Barack Obama is given a 48% chance of being the next President. Expectations for Hillary Clinton are at 19%). In the race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, Obama has overwhelmingly won the support of African-American voters while Clinton has been strongly favored by women.

While the overwhelming majority of voters say they could vote for a woman or an African-American, just 56% believe their family, friends, and co-workers would be willing to do the same. Among senior citizens, just 41% believe their peers would be willing to vote for a woman. Forty percent (40%) believe their peers would be willing to vote for an African-American.

These results are broadly consistent with the findings of earlier surveys.

Crosstabs are available to Premium Members only.