As we do every four years, Americans are looking again for the best man to lead the nation.
Well, not quite. One of the biggest changes in what Americans want in a candidate comes from the headline above: We are no longer looking for Mr. Right, but the best man or woman for the job. In 1937, when Gallup first asked about supporting a woman for president, only a third of adults said they would vote for her. That response is virtually unanimous now. What else do surveys tell us about what Americans want in their presidential candidates?
A Look at the Trends
Gallup’s invaluable trends about willingness to vote for different groups of qualified people provide an important anchor for this discussion. Today, more than 85% would vote for a qualified woman—the same goes for someone who is Black, female, Hispanic, Catholic or Jewish. Of the groups Gallup has inquired about over time and updated recently, only one, a socialist, still faces majority opposition, but it is a bare 51%.
In a 1979 poll, Gallup used a different approach and asked whether a woman, Black person or Jewish person had a chance of being elected by the year 2000. Fewer people thought any of these groups had an excellent or good chance than said they themselves would vote for such a candidate. Only a third thought a woman would have an excellent or good chance by the year 2000, while 37% gave that response about a Black candidate, 40% about a Jewish candidate and 59% about a divorced candidate. To understand possible resistance to certain kinds of candidates and candidate behaviors, pollsters now ask about not only respondents’ personal preference, but also what they think their neighbors or fellow citizens would do. Many Americans give what they believe is the socially correct response when asked about their own views, while their “neighbors’” response may reveal more accurate sentiments….