Don't expect a real woman president in 2008

Poll respondents say women, minority candidates likely to wait until 2012

Despite the success of new TV drama �Commander in Chief,� don't expect a real-life woman president anytime soon, according to an MSNBC.com-Zogby audience poll.

Zogby International, the national polling company, teamed up with MSNBC.com to ask our audience questions about politics and entertainment. More than 12,000 readers took the poll, which asked questions ranging from political bias in Hollywood to whether or not privilege is the key to being elected to public office.

�Commander in Chief,� which stars Geena Davis as the first woman president, has been a consistent ratings winner this season for ABC. However, when asked if a woman would be elected president in 2008, 61.3 percent of the survey respondents declared it was not likely (29.7 percent said it was slightly likely). Respondents were more optimistic about the future, though. Fifty-two percent said it was slightly likely that a woman would be elected in the 2012 election, with 17 percent saying they thought it was highly likely.

When asked who would win if Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ran against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for the nation's highest office, the Democratic former First Lady got the nod by 53.5 percent, to 31.8 percent for Rice.

Respondents had similar thoughts about the chances of a minority politician occupying the Oval Office. Almost 65 percent said it was unlikely a minority candidate would be elected in 2008, but 54 percent thought it was slightly likely and 15 percent thought it highly likely in 2012. Forty-three percent believe an African-American will be the first minority president, while 42 percent believe a Hispanic-American will be the first.

Hollywood � and its perceived biases � also were singled out in the poll. When asked if Hollywood followed social trends or set them, 41.6 percent thought the entertainment industry followed them, while 33.5 percent thought the industry blazed the trail.

Sixty-five percent believe Hollywood has a liberal political bias, while just 4 percent thought it skewed toward conservative points-of-view. Twenty-four percent said they didn't believe there was any political bias.

Fifty-five percent of respondents believe Hollywood uses TV shows to influence the national political debate, while 32 percent disagree.