Thursday is a good day for a possible Hillary Clinton run for president.
Two polls showed Democratic voters ready to embrace her, and ready to embrace a woman for the White House.
A new Quinnipiac University survey showed the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination right now is Clinton's to lose. And a new poll from EMILY's List, a group that helps elect Democratic women, found overwhelming support for the idea of a woman president.
"Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has a rock-solid hold on the hearts of Democratic voters at this point," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
Clinton has not yet signaled her 2016 intentions; she lost the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination to Barack Obama.
The new survey found Clinton with 65 percent of Democratic votes. Trailing far behind was Vice President Joe Biden with 13 percent. Next came New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, 4 percent.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner each had less than 1 percent.
Take Clinton out of the race, and the poll has a different look. Biden would get 45 percent, followed by 15 percent for Cuomo, 6 percent for Patrick, 3 percent for O'Malley and 2 percent for Warner.
In the EMILY's List poll, Lisa Grove and Jeffrey Liszt of Anzalone Liszt Grove Research found that in nine battleground states:
90 percent would consider voting for a qualified woman candidate from their party.
86 percent believe that America is ready to elect a woman president.
72 percent believe that it is likely that America will elect a woman president in the next presidential election.
51 percent believe that the women elected to Congress and Senate last cycle are making a positive difference.
75 percent believe a woman president would be a good thing for this country, and that it will send a positive signal to our children and grandchildren.
And a female president is perceived to be as capable or more capable than a male president when it comes to: Understanding the challenges that middle class families face and the challenge of juggling work and family, ending partisan bickering and "putting families ahead of politics."
David Lightman
McClatchy Washington Bureau