Democrats want change over experience

On a major theme of the Democratic presidential battle -- change versus experience -- voters come down decidedly on the side of change.

That's the reading, at least, from a new Gallup poll released today.

Asked which was more important in deciding their vote, 73 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents responded a candidate who would bring about change in Washington, while only 26 percent said they preferred a candidate with a lot of experience in Washington.

Of course, when not forced to choose, voters said they wanted it all -- 96 percent said the ability to bring change is desirable in a candidate, while 59 percent also said inside-the-Beltway experience is desirable.

On the surface, at least, the survey augurs well for Barack Obama, a first-term US senator, who is trying to turn his relative inexperience in the nation's capital to his advantage, by arguing that because he is not beholden to special interests and Washington insiders, he can change federal government. Former US senator John Edwards is also making the outsider case.

They are going after Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, who spent eight years as First Lady and is in her second term in the US Senate. But in her new stump speech that she unveiled in New Hampshire and Iowa over Labor Day weekend, Clinton argues that she offers both change and experience: She has the experience, she says, to make change happen.

Gallup conducted the poll Aug. 23-26 among 500 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents. The margin of error is plus or minus 5 percentage points.