Story highlights A new CNN/ORC Poll finds that 80% of American voters feel the country is ready to put a woman in the Oval Office

Along partisan lines, Democrats are more likely to say the nation is ready than are Republicans: 90% among Democrats vs. 68% among Republicans

Washington (CNN) With the Democratic Party poised to nominate the first major-party female candidate for president, a new CNN/ORC Poll finds that 80% of American voters feel the country is ready to put a woman in the Oval Office.

But far fewer say it's important to them that the nation do so during their lifetimes.

The 8 in 10 who feel the country is prepared to elect its first female president is slightly higher than its peak in the 2008 primaries, when Hillary Clinton made her first bid for the presidency. As recently as 2006, just 6 in 10 voters said the nation was ready for a woman president.

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Men are more apt than women to say the nation is ready for a female president. About three-quarters of women say so (76%) vs. 83% of men. That's in keeping with other surveys finding that women are more apt to say women face discrimination in American society. A Kaiser Family Foundation-Washington Post poll conducted last year found that 85% of women said women face at least some discrimination in U.S. society, more than the 73% of men who said the same. Men are more apt than women to say the nation is ready for a female president. About three-quarters of women say so (76%) vs. 83% of men. That's in keeping with other surveys finding that women are more apt to say women face discrimination in American society. A Kaiser Family Foundation-Washington Post poll conducted last year found that 85% of women said women face at least some discrimination in U.S. society, more than the 73% of men who said the same.

Along partisan lines, Democrats are more likely to say the nation is ready than are Republicans: 90% among Democrats vs. 68% among Republicans. Some of that may be due to views on Clinton herself, as those with a favorable impression of her are more likely to say the country's ready for a female president than those with an unfavorable take (92% among those with a favorable impression of Clinton, 71% among those with an unfavorable view).

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