Asked if they’d be willing to vote for a “generally well-qualified” candidate with the following characteristics, here’s how Americans responded in a Feb. 9-11 Gallup poll.
Black 94%
Jewish 92%
A woman 88%
Hispanic 87%
Mormon 72%
Married for third time 67%
72 years of age 57%
A homosexual 55%
An atheist 45%
Several things stand out. First, Americans are much more tolerant of inherent characteristics (race, sex) than of things they view as a candidate’s choice (religion, sexual orientation, marriage tendencies), which means we’ve moved past racism to simple prejudice. Take that for what it’s worth.
Also, John McCain is old — so old that his age puts him at the same disadvantage as a gay candidate for president, the very idea of which must horrify a huge portion of our (obviously) homophobic electorate and would galvanize the religious right. I suspect we should take these numbers with a grain of salt, but… wow.
(H/T Crooks and Liars)
