- While Barack Obama Currently Leads, Neither Presidential Candidate
Has Secured Majority of Women's Vote; Undecideds Could Tip the Scales -

    - Nearly One in Five Hillary Primary Voters Are Supporting McCain -

    - Ms. Vice President? Makes Little Difference to Most Women's Vote -

    - The Hillary Legacy: Most Women Believe There Will Be a Madame
President in the Next Decade; Only Three in Ten Believe It Will Be Senator
Clinton -

    NEW YORK, Aug. 5 /eMediaWorld-USNewswire/ -- As part of its nonpartisan
Every Woman Counts campaign to engage women in the political process,
Lifetime Networks today announced the results of a national poll of women
likely voters conducted by Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway of the
polling company(TM), inc./WomanTrend and Democratic pollster Celinda Lake
of Lake Research Partners. The survey provides insight into women's
positive and negative impressions of McCain and Obama; indicates that
economic worries continue to dominate the issues driving women to the
polls; and shows that putting a woman on the ticket matters little to women
voters. The poll also reveals whom Hillary Clinton's primary voters now
support two months after she abandoned her presidential bid, the impact of
her candidacy on future women presidential candidates, and when the country
will see its first "Madame President."

    

    According to the survey, neither presumptive Democratic presidential
nominee Barack Obama nor Republican presidential nominee John McCain has
secured a clear majority of women, who have decided every presidential
election since 1968. Obama garnered 49% to McCain's 38%, and 6% of these
women said they were only leaning toward a candidate. With 90 days to go
until Election Day, 10% of women are firmly undecided, indicating either
candidate has a shot at becoming the next president.

    Lifetime's nonpartisan Every Woman Counts campaign, first launched in
1992 and now entering its fifth presidential election cycle, ensures that
issues important to women are part of the campaign dialogue during election
season; encourages women to run for public office; and motivates women to
register and vote.

    In addition to releasing the new poll, this month Lifetime has launched
a 14-stop Every Woman Counts bus tour through 11 cities across the country,
during which women can upload "If I were president..." videos and register
to vote. The bus will also pull into Denver and Minneapolis/Saint Paul for
the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, where Lifetime will
host a series of high-profile Every Woman Counts events to spotlight
women's leadership.

    Highlights of the Every Woman Counts poll include:

    The Race for Women Could Be Tight

    -- Neither Obama nor McCain has secured support from a majority of
women voters. While 49% of women polled said they are supporting Obama and
38% are supporting McCain, 10% of women are undecided, suggesting the race
for women could become close.

    -- While Obama is doing well with minority women, with support from 89%
of African-Americans and 62% of Hispanics, McCain garnered support from
nearly half of Caucasian women surveyed (47% vs. 38% for Obama). Hispanic
women (14%) were more undecided than African-Americans (4%) or Caucasians
(11%).

    The Veepstakes: Does Gender Matter?

    -- The majority of women voters polled say gender does not matter.
Obama's selection of a woman running mate makes no difference to 55% of
women voters, and McCain's selection of a woman as his #2 makes no
difference to 62%.

    -- However, Obama would benefit twice as much as McCain from offering
the second slot to a woman (29% more likely to support Obama if he picks a
woman vs. 15% who would be more likely to support McCain). Selecting a
woman #2 would result in a net negative for McCain. While 15% said they
would be more likely to support McCain if he picked a woman, 20% said they
would be less likely to pick him if a woman were on his ticket.

    -- Forty-seven percent of Hillary Clinton's primary voters said they'd
be more likely to vote for Obama if he chose a woman running mate, and 4%
said less likely. This is the exact breakdown of current Obama supporters
overall. However, Hillary's primary supporters were largely unmoved by a
woman on McCain's ticket (59%).

    How Barack Obama Fares: Making Inroads Among Women

    -- More than half the female electorate (53%) hold mostly positive
views of Obama, while 28% have mostly negative views and 14% hold neutral
or mixed views.

    -- Women like Obama largely because of his personal attributes (35%),
such as his intelligence, youth, speaking ability, honesty and energy.
Women also like the change and new ideas he represents to them (19%) and
his general stance on issues (19%).

    -- Those with negative impressions of the candidate said he lacks the
experience and qualifications to be president (27%), disliked his position
on specific issues (19%) such as abortion, health care and national
security, as well as his positions on issues more generally (18%), and his
campaign style and changing positions on the issues (16%).

    How McCain Fares: Women Are Split

    -- While 37% feel mostly favorable toward McCain, 31% hold unfavorable
views. One out of five women polled have mixed or neutral impressions, and
these women were most likely to say they needed more information about him.

    -- Women with favorable impressions of McCain said it's because he has
the right qualifications, including citing his experience to be president
(27%), his positive personal characteristics (23%) and his stances on the
issues (20%).

    -- Those who reported unfavorable views cited McCain's alignment with
the Bush administration (28%), personal attributes, including his age
(24%), his stance on specific issues (21%), such as the war in Iraq, and
his political affiliation (18%).

    The Indie Vote

    -- Obama also holds an advantage among Independent women, who favor him
by a twelve point margin (42% for Obama to 30% for McCain). However, one
out of five Independents are still undecided.

    Hillary Clinton's Legacy

    Hillary's Women Supporters

    -- While the majority of women who voted for Hillary in the primary are
flocking to Obama (76%), nearly one out of five (18%) says they will vote
for McCain for president.*

    Why She Didn't Win the Democratic Nomination

    -- Despite all the talk about sexism in the presidential campaign, the
majority of women voters laid the blame for Hillary's loss squarely on her
and her strategists' shoulders; they largely reject gender as a cause of
her demise. Thirty-four percent believe she lost "because of the kind of
campaign she ran"; 31% said because of "who she is and what she stands
for"; and 21% said "because she is a woman."

    -- African-American women were more likely than Hispanic or Caucasian
women to say she lost because of the campaign she ran. Nearly half of
African-Americans polled (48%) attribute her loss to her campaign
operation, more than Hispanics (31%) or Caucasians (29%). Caucasian women
(35%) were more likely to say she lost because of who she is and what she
stands for (African-Americans 13% and Hispanics 18%).

    The Hillary Effect

    -- Despite losing the Democratic nomination, women credit Hillary for
paving the way for tomorrow's female presidential candidates. Sixty-nine
percent think her participation in the race will help women who want to run
for president in the near future.

    The First Woman President: Women Say It's Not Far Off...but That It's
Not Hillary

    -- Nearly half (44%) of women polled believe the country will see a
woman in the Oval Office within eight years, including 23% of them who said
it will happen in 2012, suggesting whomever is elected this year will be a
one-term president. Three in ten still believe Hillary will be the first
female president.

    On the Issues: The Economy is a Women's Issue

    -- Forty-one percent of women polled said jobs/the economy is the issue
most important to their vote. The war in Iraq (24%), health care and
prescription drugs (23%) and education (17%) followed.

    -- When asked which issues women want to hear the candidates talk more
about, jobs/the economy still led the list (47%), followed by health care
and prescription drugs (34%), education (31%) and the war in Iraq (28%).

    -- However, African-American women were 10 points more likely than
Caucasians to list "war in Iraq" as a top voting issue (32% vs. 22%), and
10 points more likely to want to hear more about this issue (37% vs. 27%)
from the candidates.

    Likeability, Trust and Comfort Level with the Presumptive Nominees

    Women Trust...

    -- Obama leads McCain by ten points (42% vs. 32%) when it comes to
which candidate women trust more. However, 14% said they trust neither, and
5% trust both.

    -- Obama had the edge among African-Americans (85%) and Hispanics (52%)
in earning women's trust (McCain: 1% African-American and 22% Hispanic),
but white women were more apt to trust McCain (41% vs. 31% for Obama).
Young women (18-34), Independents and undecided voters were more inclined
than most to say they didn't trust either candidate.

    Gas is Expensive. Can She Catch a Ride?

    -- If they were to carpool to save money on gas, 51% of women surveyed
would like to share a ride with Obama, 31% prefer McCain and 5% would be
happy with either. Five percent of current Obama voters would carpool with
McCain, and 17% of McCain voters would share a ride with Obama.

    Vacationing with the Obamas or the McCains?

    -- Nearly half of respondents (49%) want to join the Obama family on a
summer vacation and one-quarter (26%) want to summer with the McCains.
Nearly 20% would prefer to vacation without the candidates.

    Methodology:

    Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway of the polling company(TM),
inc./WomanTrend and Democratic pollster Celinda Lake of Lake Research
Partners conducted the scientific poll via telephone interviews July 25-29,
2008. The sample was 500 women nationwide, with 100 additional African
American women and 100 additional Hispanic women. The margin of error for
the main sample is +/- 4.4% at a 95% confidence level. Margins of error for
the subgroups are higher.

    Every Woman Counts is the only public service campaign dedicated to
encouraging women to speak out on the issues they care about most, vote and
run for office. For the first time, the 2008 Every Woman Counts initiative
will leverage the power of the #1 and #2 television networks' for women --
Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network (LMN) -- and include the most extensive
on-air programming, digital content and grassroots efforts to date. To
expand the effort and reach women everywhere they live, work and play,
Lifetime launched the first-ever Every Woman Counts media and advocacy
coalition in partnership with REDBOOK, CosmoGIRL!, Marie Claire,
celebrities, experts and hundreds of women's nonprofit organizations
representing more than 15 million women from all sides of the political
spectrum.

    LIFETIME is the leader in women's television and one of the top-rated
basic cable television networks. A diverse, multi-media company, LIFETIME
is committed to offering the highest quality entertainment and information
programming, and advocating a wide range of issues affecting women and
their families. LIFETIME Television, Lifetime Movie Network, Lifetime Real
Women and Lifetime Digital (including myLifetime.com) are part of LIFETIME
Entertainment Services, a 50/50 joint venture of Hearst Corporation and The
Walt Disney Company.

    *Small N size on this question