While some debate whether Sarah Palin as a mother of five can be vice president, 67% of voters say children are a motivation for women in political office, not a distraction, and nearly one-third (31%) believe being a good wife and mother is a qualification to run for higher office.

While 73% say a woman politician does not have to be like a man to succeed, 57% say being a good wife and mother is not a qualification for higher office, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Thirteen percent (13%) say children are a distraction for women in office. Two-thirds of men and women agree that children are a motivation for women in politics, but 15% of women say children are a distraction, compared to 11% of men.

Women and men had virtually identical responses on a wife and mother’s qualifications for office and whether a woman needs to be like a male politician.

Palin, the first-term Republican governor of Alaska, is scheduled to face longtime Delaware Senator Joseph Biden in the vice presidential debate in St. Louis Thursday night.

A month after they were named the vice presidential candidates of their respective parties, Palin was still viewed more favorably by voters than Biden. She also drew stronger feelings - pro and con.

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When asked to choose among four prominent women and mothers for the most positive role model, a plurality (35%) list New York Senator Hillary Clinton as their choice. Palin and First Lady Laura Bush come next as the choices of 25% and 24% respectively. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the most powerful woman in Congress, is the choice of six percent (6%). Actress Angelina Jolie bottoms out the list as the role model choice of just four percent (4%).

Among women, 40% chose Clinton, 24% Bush, 22% Palin, four percent (4%) Pelosi and three percent (3%) Jolie.

For men, Clinton was the first choice of 30%, while nearly as many (29%) favored Palin, followed by 24% for Bush, seven percent (7%) for Pelosi and five percent (5%) for Jolie.

In a survey in early September, voters by a substantial majority said a woman is likely to be elected president of the United States in the next 10 years, and in a hypothetical match-up, Clinton beat Palin 52 to 41%.

The week of their party’s national convention in late August, nearly half of Democratic women said Barack Obama should have chosen Clinton for his running mate instead of Biden.

In the new survey, 49% say women who run for political office are held to a double standard that does not apply to men, while 36% disagree. Men are evenly divided on this question, but women believe there is a double standard by a 54% to 30% margin.

Eighty-four percent (84%) of Republican voters think children are a motivator for women in politics, compared to 56% of Democrats and 60% of unaffiliated voters.

While 44% of Republicans believe being a good wife and mother is a qualification for higher office, just 26% of Democrats and even fewer unaffiliated voters (23%) agree.

Well over half of Republicans (58%) think women who run for political office are held to a double standard that does not apply to men, but 49% of Democrats disagree.

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