Clinton Owes Lead in Poll To Support From Women

Harrison Hickman, a pollster for Edwards, said he believes there is potential for Clinton's early bond with these voters to falter. "When you talk to women in more detail, they express doubts," Hickman said. Only when rival campaigns start trying to exploit those doubts, and when Clinton's camp starts addressing them, will the polls start to paint a more meaningful portrait of the race, he said.

According to the most recent Post-ABC national poll, taken between May 29 and June 1, women 18 to 44 years old are more likely to see Clinton as the most inspiring of the candidates. Clinton drew support from 61 percent of women who had at most a high school degree, compared with 18 percent for Obama. By contrast, female college graduates were more evenly split: 38 percent said they preferred Clinton, and 34 percent backed Obama. (Twelve percent said they supported Edwards.)

A large gap also appeared on the question of which candidate seemed the most honest and trustworthy: Clinton was considered most honest by 42 percent of women who had only a high school education, compared with 16 percent for Obama. But only 19 percent of college-educated women said Clinton is the most honest; 50 percent chose Obama.

"She ran the country for eight years, so I feel like she could do it again," said Juanita Anders, 71, a registered Democrat who lives in a rural area near Springfield, Ohio, and participated in the Post-ABC poll. Anders, who is a high school graduate with a bit of college education, said that she would "very much" like to see a female president and that, as a result, she has barely given Obama a second thought. She described her support for Clinton as "definite."

Clinton is pursuing multiple tracks in hopes of widening the gender gap. She recently banked endorsements from key women's political organizations, including Emily's List and the National Organization for Women. She has launched a women's finance committee to recruit female -- and, her campaign hopes, first-time -- donors. She held women-specific events -- a breakfast in New York, a club party in Washington -- last week and announced that Ellen Malcolm, the president of Emily's List, will serve as a national co-chairman of her campaign.

A video on her campaign Web site titled "Ready for Change" shows testimonials from female leaders and other women, interspersed with shots of crowds waving "Women for Hillary" signs.

One goal for the Clinton team: pulling in women as first-time political donors. At a recent meeting of members of the Clinton finance team, Susie Tompkins Buell, a Clinton fundraiser and California executive, shared the results of a report by the Women's Campaign Forum, a nonprofit organization with ties to Clinton.

The group found that women have accounted for less than a third of individual "hard money" contributions to political candidates but make up a huge untapped source for future donations.

Polling director Jon Cohen contributed to this report.