Hillary Clinton: Life of the Party AND Keeper of Resolutions?

According to a new national survey by Ladies' Home Journal, one-fourth (24 percent) of Americans chose Hillary Clinton as the presidential candidate from either party who would be the most fun to bring to a New Year's karaoke party.

The ranked survey results were as follows:
Hillary Clinton, 24%
Barack Obama, 15%
None, 11%
Rudy Giuliani, 8% (highest-rated Republican)
All other candidates were mentioned by fewer than 3% of respondents

Clinton was carried to the top of the party list largely by women, who mentioned her significantly more than men did (28%); she was also helped by younger adults age 18 to 34 (32%) and those without a college degree (26%). Within political party lines, Clinton ranked first among Democrats and Independents (33% and 26%) with both groups being significantly more likely to mention her than were Republicans (16%) as their choice for a fun partygoer.

Rudy Giuliani was mentioned most frequently by Republicans (18%), but only a mere 3 percent of Democrats and 5 percent of Independents chose the former mayor as the most fun candidate to attend a karaoke party.

Republicans were nearly as likely to choose Senator Clinton as their partygoer preference. Clinton finished second among Republican respondents with 16 percent naming her, while Obama finished third among Republicans at 11 percent. No other candidate from any party was mentioned by more than 5 percent of Republicans.

Survey respondents were also asked which candidate would be most likely to keep his or her New Year's resolution.

The ranked survey results were as follows:
Hillary Clinton, 21%
None, 16%
Barack Obama, 13%
Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, tied at 4%

Clinton was significantly more likely to be chosen to carry forth a New Year's resolution by Democrats and Independents (37% and 20%) and finished first among both groups. She was also mentioned significantly more often among blacks (43%) than whites (18%).

Romney, Huckabee, and John McCain were significantly more likely to be mentioned by Republicans (11%, 9% and 8%) than by either Democrats or Independents. They finished first, second, and third respectively among Republicans.

"I would say that Senator Clinton's placement as the winner of both very different questions is a triumph for her campaign strategy," says Diane Salvatore, Editor-in-Chief of Ladies' Home Journal. "Judging exclusively by the resolution question, it's safe to speculate that she has maintained her credibility factor, but by winning the karaoke question -- the bigger surprise -- it's clear that she has made progress on her 'warm and fuzzy' factor. Allowing herself to smile, laugh, and joke more on the campaign trail seems to have translated into more likability with voters."

And this was before Clinton's tearful moment on the campaign trail.

"Also surprising," remarks Salvatore, "is Governor Huckabee's relatively weak showing on both questions, particularly given his surge in Iowa caucus polling, as well as the generally high marks he gets for being warm and funny, and a straight shooter."

"Bottom line, however," says Salvatore, "Democrats seem to own New Year's Eve."

The survey, conducted by International Communications Research (ICR) for Ladies' Home Journal, used a nationally representative telephone sample; 1,009 randomly selected adults were polled during the period of December 14 to December 18.

What do you think? Weigh in on our Elections 2008 board.

Originally published on LHJ.com, January 2008.