Poll: Romney’s JFK Speech Flops?
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Gender, Polls, Race, Religion, RomneyNEW YORK A new Gallup Poll finds that better than one in six Americans, including similar numbers of Republicans and Democrats, indicate they would not support their party’s nominee for president if that person were a Mormon.The poll was conducted from Dec. 6 to 9, immediately following the major speech by Republican presidential candidate Gov. Mitt Romney, in which he addressed voter concern about his Mormon religion. The percentage of Republicans who now rule out voting for a Mormon, 18%, is just one point lower than it was in March.
If 18% of the population won’t vote for a Mormon, what about other distinctions?
Gallup observes: “Four percent of Americans (including 3% of Republicans) say they would not vote for a Catholic, 5% would not vote for a black, 12% would not vote for a woman, and 12% would not vote for a Hispanic.”
So then, if you’re running for President it’s better to be catholic than black, but better to be black than hispanic or female. Huh.
The disparity between those who would not vote for blacks and those who would note vote for women is particularly surprising. Because we consistently hear whispers here and there that the nation isn’t ready for a black President. Well, apparently they’re 7% more ready for a black President than a female President.
What all this ultimately tells me is that maybe there’s hope for John Edwards after all.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 11th, 2007 and is filed under 2008 Election, Gender, Polls, Race, Religion, Romney. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
Pardon me if I’m misinterpreting something here, but I suspect Edwards would not want to win the White House on the basis of being not Mormon, not female, not Hispanic and not black. Being not Republican is no problem, of course.
December 11th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
The simple fact of the matter is he’s the only white male frontrunner in this race. As sad as it is, that could work to his advantage. That was my only point. So I agree that there’s no way he would ever want to win that way, but that’s out of his control.
December 12th, 2007 at 9:44 am
What do the polls say about America’s readiness to elect its first closeted homosexual president? (Although, Al Gore did win the popular vote in 2000; so its something to think about)
December 12th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
BTW, I wonder how many among the 18 percent who wouldn’t vote for a Mormon actually know any Mormons. In responding to a comment to one of my posts, I recalled having met several while in the service and in college. All of them were nice people.