Hillary Rodham Clinton
"The poll, conducted for The Associated Press by Ipsos-Public Affairs, found that 56 percent of respondents are not willing to give up some guaranteed benefits, while 40 percent said they would.''
From the Associated Press
New Yorkers Want Senator Clinton to Pledge Full Term
By Marc Humbert, AP
ALBANY, N.Y. (May 5) - The majority of New York voters said Hillary Rodham Clinton deserves to be re-elected to the Senate next year, but want her to pledge to serve a full, six-year term if she runs, a statewide poll reported Thursday.
The Democratic former first lady made such a pledge in 2000 when she ran for the Senate. Clinton, leading in the polls for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, has yet to offer such a pledge this time around.
Sixty percent of New York voters surveyed by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute said she should pledge to serve a full term if she runs for re-election. Forty-one percent said she should run for president, including 17 percent of Republicans.
There was no immediate comment from Clinton.
Clinton had 2-1 or better leads over several potential Senate opponents and 67 percent of voters said she deserves to be re-elected.
"There doesn't seem to be oomph behind any of the Republicans mentioned as possible challengers,'' said Maurice Carroll, director of the Hamden, Conn.-based polling institute.
New York Republicans have been struggling to find a big-name opponent to take on Clinton next year. Republican Gov. George Pataki has said he's not interested and a top political aide to Rudolph Giuliani said recently the former New York City mayor was too busy with private business interests to run for office next year. Both Pataki and Giuliani are believed to be eyeing possible 2008 presidential runs.
Quinnipiac's telephone poll of 1,191 registered voters was conducted April 28-May 2 and has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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