Despite polling data suggesting the opposite, Cynthia Tucker, editorial page editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, told Chris Matthews on the December 11 broadcast of NBC's syndicated Chris Matthews Show that "[t]his country is not ready to elect a woman, especially a liberal woman" to the presidency.

Tucker's comments came during a segment in which Matthews and several guests were discussing potential candidates and issues of the 2008 presidential election.

A September CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll (subscription required) asked respondents if they would vote for a “qualified woman for president.” Eighty-six percent of respondents indicated they would. The poll surveyed 1,005 adults from September 8-11 and had a margin of error of +/- three percent.

From the December 11 broadcast of NBC's The Chris Matthews Show:

MATTHEWS: I'm still hearing what I heard [former New York Mayor Rudolph] Giuliani say last summer at the Republican convention. One party's not always right; the other party's not always wrong. But at certain times, the values of one party are better than the other's. Security, he's saying. Is he also saying, there are certain times when people, like me -- the tough cop, the tough prosecutor, the guy fighting the squeegee boys and the broken windows -- is who you need?

TUCKER: Oh, absolutely. He was certainly trying to make that point, but I think it is absolutely true that in 2008 as in 2004, security will still be an important issue. It is quite likely, unfortunately, that we'll have another terrorist attack on our soil before then. And that's exactly why [Sen.] Hillary Clinton [D-NY] won't be elected --

MATTHEWS: OK --

TUCKER: -- if, in fact, the Republicans are afraid of her [Clinton], I don't know why. She's not --

MATTHEWS: You're so tough.

TUCKER: -- she's not only -- she's not only a polarizing figure. Let me commit heresy among liberal women: This country is not ready to elect a woman, especially a liberal woman.