US voters are ready to vote for a black or a woman for president

[illinoisprogressive]

Those who say minorities cannot be elected because of the prejudice in the country are in for a surprise. The majority of voters say they are willing to voter for a black or a woman.
Some people will not support either in the primary thinking they have no chance at all to win.
Well, this poll shows that acceptance is overcoming our racist past. People just do not care what a candidate is and focus instead on what they stand for. I find it good that this country is willing to move on and become more progressive in their idea





Large majorities of US voters say they are ready to vote for an African-American or a woman for president, according to a poll published Friday by Newsweek magazine.

About 92 percent of respondents were willing to vote for a black presidential candidate, while 86 percent said they would cast a ballot for a woman, said the poll on Newsweek's website.

However, smaller majorities of voters believed the country was ready to accept a black or woman president.

When asked if the United States was ready for a black president, 59 percent said yes, while 58 percent said the country was ready for a woman in the White House.

Two-thirds of respondents, 66 percent, said that there was a some chance they would vote for Senator Barack Obama, a black lawmaker in his first term. And 62 percent said the same when asked about Senator Hillary Clinton. Both are Democrats. No Republican woman or African American has entered the campaign.

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_voters_are_ready_to_elect_a_blac_07062007.html

[msongs]

1. at least that's what they tell pollsters. I do like the language used in this poll though.

insted of saying all people believe this, it states that only a percentage of those respondents believe it. That is an accurate way of saying. Most polls say things like 65% of Americans when it should say 65% of those polled......

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[XemaSab]

2. News flash: smaller numbers of voters openly admit to sexism or racism

:P

[That Is Quite Enough]

3. Well, then...

I'm not sure I trust the poll, mostly because I've always figured these things were biased either one way or another, but if it's accurate...awesome! :)

[melody]

4. The respondents know to feel awkward about it

But it doesn't mean they won't act on instinct and attribute it to some other reason (like Obama's last name
or Hillary's husband)

[dmallind]

5. That's not the right universe though

All that matters is if likely voters who would even consider voting Democratic are willing to vote for a black man or a woman.

The KKK crowd ain't going to vote Dem anyway. Neither are the women = kitchen and bedroom Promise Keeper types. We don't need 90% of the population willing to vote for a "minority" - we need as close to 100% of the Dems and Dem-leaning independents as possible. That universe is about 60-65% of the overall voting age population. This is the same reason HRC's supposedly sky high negatives, even though they are only a few points above say Edwards' are not all that relevant (as well as the fact that she has been the target of RW bile for 15 years whereas the other candidates have suffered much less attention so far).

Soeaking as a member of the minority which always comes dead last by a country mile in these "would you vote for" polls, I agree that they are woefully undercounted especially for minorities it is politically incorrect to harbor prejudices against. However that said, it would be very similar to a poll that says "would you consider voting for a Neoconservative candidate?". Just because at least 40-45% would say "no" does not mean they can't win.