Poll: Majority of Americans are comfortable with gay presidential candidate

[left-of-center2012]

A majority of Americans are either enthusiastic or comfortable with a gay or lesbian person running for president, according to a new poll, a finding that comes as South Bend, Ind., mayor and openly gay Pete Buttigieg (D) grows in popularity as a potential candidate.

A NBC/WSJ poll, which was first published in March and gained new attention with Buttigieg's rise, shows that U.S. citizens' perceptions of the possibility of a gay presidential candidate have changed drastically over the last decade.

The survey found that 54 percent of Americans said they would be comfortable with a gay or lesbian person running for president. An additional 14 percent said that they would be "enthusiastic" about a gay or lesbian candidate.

Buttigieg has emerged as a popular figure in the months since launching his exploratory committee for a 2020 presidential run. The 37-year-old has called for numerous progressive reforms, including abandoning the Electoral College for presidential elections.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/436776-poll-majority-of-americans-are-comfortable-with-gay-presidential-candidate

[playaseeker]

1. Just make him / her a great candidate

The democrats need a dynamic candidate that can capture the positive imagination of the electorate. We need to look past personal labels and just select the candidate that is the best overall candidate. My opinion

[appleannie1943]

2. Sexual orientation doesn't have a darn thing to do with whether someone would make a good

president. Look at Trump. He is straight and is a disaster.

[Amimnoch]

3. This does look like HUGE progress in the last 20 years.

I would like to see a breakdown in how those numbers translate to battleground states like Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Florida.

Even without numbers, I think of the battleground states, Pennsylvania is likely in a majority support.

I so much do not want to see another round of "but we won the popular vote...."

Are the states that need to be flipped going to go for it?

[Demsrule86]

4. Think we lose. 20 is too important to take the chance.

[David__77]

6. Does that logic also extend to sex and race?

I understand wanting to do what it takes to win.

[Demsrule86]

11. I don't think we can elect a woman either. It pains me to say that.

We did elect a Black president. But Booker can't win the midwest...too east coast and Castro can't either. If we don't run a moderate, Trump wins.

[customerserviceguy]

14. I wouldn't worry about Booker or Castro

I expected them to have far better numbers than either of them has shown so far.

[Demsrule86]

15. It is not about numbers

Trump will win in the electoral college if we don't choose carefully.

[customerserviceguy]

16. Perhaps I should have said

I expected Booker and Castro to have more support from people who identify with their respective ethnicities. The fact that neither of them is anywhere near even ten percent, given that Booker is the only African-American in the race, and Castro is the only Latino candidate is pretty surprising to me.

[Demsrule86]

12. I hope Joe tells the bull shit brigade to get lost but if he decides it is not worth it

I would support Beto. But Biden has the best chance. And if we lose...it will be sadly self inflicted.

[Amimnoch]

7. is my only concern.

When it boils down to it, my only real reason for supporting Beto for now is that I do believe he can make Texas into, at the very least a full on battleground state that Republicans have to spend a ton of their PAC money to keep.. At best, he can possibly flip it giving us a 1 state flip win.

I am so happy I could cry that a GLBT candidate is running for a major ticket, and actually being taken seriously.. never thought I'd see that in my lifetime.

[marylandblue]

8. There are no safe choices.

Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses and Trump is a master at exploiting weaknesses. Hillary looked like a safe choice, but she turned out to have a lot of vulnerabilities.

[marylandblue]

5. I suspect they will be okay with it.

Evangelicals are going to have the most problem with it, but the Rust Belt isn't the South. People who have more economic concerns or just hated Hillary probably don't care at all.

[JaneQPublic]

9. If anyone has a problem with it, refer him/her to Ireland.

The Emerald Isle is doing quite fine after electing Leo Varadkar (pictured in red, in front of his boyfriend,
Dr. Matt Barrett) as its Taoiseach (Irish for Prime Minister).

[Pope George Ringo II]

10. As a citizen of Ireland, the UK, and the US, I have one chief executive I'm proud of.

Maybe a few more if you count the splintered chief executive of the EU, but love me some Varadkar. Admittedly, I'm a Labour member, so I'd replace him if I could...

[customerserviceguy]

13. I'd rather see a state-by-state breakdown of that poll

and adding up of electoral vote totals. It doesn't matter if 51% or 91% of Californians or New Yorkers are OK with a gay president, we're going to win those states regardless.

Please remember how having equal marriage on the ballot in 2004 sunk John Kerry's chances. It motivated people to vote who usually didn't bother to show up for an election.

I like Pete, and personally would be fine with him as our nominee, but I expect the religious right wing to go totally apeshit on him if he were our standard bearer.