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It is quite surprising that the New York Senate race has so much talk about gender in it.
Polls indicate that Hillary Clinton is getting more voter support after being attacked by her opponent. It appears that the perception of Clinton as a victimized woman is once again boosting her popularity - as it did after the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
A survey conducted by the New York Times/CBS News between September 14th and 19th immediately following her debate with opponent Rick Lazio showed a deterioration in Mr. Lazio's standing - at a crucial time in the election campaigns when voters are about to make the serious choice between candidates.
Results have Clinton leading Lazio by a 9-point percentage - 48 to 39 percent. The remaining voters polled were undecided, or supported other candidates.
The poll was conducted among 1,212 registered voters, of whom 1,066 were characterized as likely to vote.
What is new about poll results for this race is the shift in the support of suburban New York women, which the first lady once struggled to have. In June, Lazio led among those voters, with 43 percent compared to Clinton's 36 percent. Now, she has the support of 54 percent of female surburbanites compared to his 38 percent.
Similarly, Clinton now has the support of 56 percent of women statewide who describe themselves as moderate. In June, she and Lazio were tied among those voters.
The shift in female voters came after the September 13th public debate between the two candidates in which Lazio showed considerable aggressiveness towards Clinton. He attacked her in almost every question, and at the end, he walked over to her lectern, demanding that she sign a sheet of paper renouncing the use of soft-money campaign contributions.
Half of the female poll respondents who watched the debate said that Lazio did not display the requisite maturity and experience to serve in the United States Senate. Half also felt that Clinton had won the debate, compared to only 26 percent who felt Lazio had won.
But men who watched the debate reacted more favorably to Lazio's behavior. Still, overall, 54 percent of respondents said that Lazio was too aggressive, compared to just 4 percent who said the same thing about Clinton.
Since the debate, supporters on both sides have been throwing accusation at each other - not about election issues but rather about character and endurance.
Clinton's strongest criticism is that Lazio behaves like a little brother who is not talking about the key issues. Lazio, on the other hand, accuses his critics of being sexist and says that it is unfair to bring gender issues into the debate.
Clinton's senior advisers, however, say that people, especially women, saw Lazio's aggressiveness as a form of bullying that he would not have carried out against a man. "It just backfired," one adviser said.
Lazio responded, "I think the idea that somehow there's a double standard because you're a man or a woman and that you can't make a point forcefully because you're a man and the person you're making the point with is a woman - I just think that's sexist."
He asserted that his treatment of Clinton was meant only to demonstrate the force he would bring to debates in the Senate, and argued that the idea of men and women having different standards in contemporary life is wrong.
"Maybe it was just a little too New York for the other side," he said at a later campaign stop in Syracuse.
The weaker gender profile - rather than the one of a strong co-president behind the scenes - has been helping Clinton for a long time.
Her popularity rating was sky high immediately after the President admitted on television to having an affair. In the debate with Lazio, when moderator Tim Russert brought up how she viewed the whole situation as a "right wing conspiracy," her reaction as a wounded wife who wants to get on with her life and not have to pay the price for an unfaithful husband's mistakes seemed to have boosted her ratings.
Whereas, her contribution to the health care policy campaign gave her husband's administration a hard time, and she had to keep a low profile for some time after that.
The reaction of women viewers to the debate has mainly focused on how Clinton handled the accusations by her opponents rather than on what she said about the issues.
But, how far can the "victim card" go in helping the first lady to win the senate election?
The upcoming six weeks will unfold the answer to that question
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