U.S. voters open minds

Calgary Sun - Canada ^ | Tuesday, July 17, 2007 | Paul Jackson

[GMMAC]

U.S. voters open minds

By Paul Jackson
Calgary Sun, Tuesday, July 17, 2007

PHOENIX -- The Arizona sun scorches down as I realize the past 10 elected U.S. presidents have all been white males and with the exception of John F. Kennedy, have all been Protestants.

Even the one president since Democrat Harry Truman who remains the only president never to be elected, Gerald Ford, was a white male and Protestant.

Until now, with the advent of Barack Obama, no black American has even come close to being elected president, and neither has a woman, until today with Hillary Clinton leading the Democratic contenders.

Yet times may now be changing.

In 1928, Democratic presidential candidate Al Smith was doomed because of his Roman Catholicism. Middle America detested the former governor of New York, precisely because of his religion. The famed "Happy Warrior" became a saddened figure.

In his 1960 bid for the presidency, Kennedy did not face the wrath from Protestants as did Smith, but there was a virulent campaign suggesting he would follow the Pope's orders.

Some prominent, and until then respectable Protestants, took part in the attempt to savage Kennedy.

The campaign failed.

Today no Roman Catholic -- Rudy Giuliani, for instance -- would find his religion seriously detrimental to his bid.

But a recent USA Today/Gallup poll shows other aspects can deter voters from backing candidates. For instance, 30% of respondents declared they would not vote for a candidate who'd been married three times, as has Giuliani -- and his wife.

That 30% may not seem like a lot -- with 70% saying it wouldn't matter -- but in a tight race it could matter.

While Republican Ronald Reagan at 69 was the oldest elected president -- and he was re-elected four years later at 74 -- the poll shows Republican John McCain's age of 72 come voting day would be an issue.

Some 42% of respondents replied they would not back someone of McCain's age.

Perhaps that's why McCain is dramatically slipping in the polls.

Good news for Obama: Just 5% of respondents would not vote for a black candidate, provided he had the right qualifications.

Personally, I think Obama is a flash in the pan. Two years in the Senate hardly qualify him for occupancy of the White House.

Also, it's good news for Clinton: Just 11% would not vote for a woman presidential candidate.

Shaky news for Republican Mitt Romney: 24% of respondents wouldn't vote for a Mormon candidate.

Gallup, whose extensive survey is an updated version of polling it first did in 1937, says the Mormon faith issue is the one aberration its researchers found in a general trend to more acceptance of women, blacks, Jews and so on in its current survey.

When Romney's father George sought the presidential nomination in 1968, 75% vouched that his faith would not matter.

Today, that figure is essentially unchanged.

More good news -- if, like I, you are open-minded.

Only 7% would not vote for a Jewish presidential candidate based solely on their creed.

What about an Hispanic candidate in the nation whose Latino population is growing in staggering numbers? Well, Democrat New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson -- trying to become the first Hispanic president -- would be judged unsuitable by only 12% of voters.

But bad news for homosexual and atheist candidates. Some 43% would not vote for a homosexual candidate no matter what their other qualifications.

An even more overwhelming number -- 53% -- would not vote for an atheistic candidate.

Obviously, Old Glory is in good hands.

[GMMAC]

[dfwgator]

An even more overwhelming number -- 53% -- would not vote for an atheistic candidate.

Which insures we will continue to have religious phonies like Bill Clinton who carried a Bible around in photo ops.

[OpusatFR]

Thanks!

I’m glad we caught up with Europe and Canada’s multi-ethnic and racial prime ministers and presidents.

(I don’t have to use a /sarc sign do I?)

[snarks_when_bored]

U.S. voters open minds

As Bertrand Russell famously said: "An open mind is an empty mind."

[mtbopfuyn]

Who said Hill was a woman?

[Ingtar]

Good news for Obama: Just 5% of respondents would not vote for a black candidate, provided he had the right qualifications.

Exactly how is this good news for Obama?

[who_would_fardels_bear]

"Some 43% would not vote for a homosexual candidate"

How does this NOT affect Hillary's chances?

[DuncanWaring]

... I realize the past 10 elected U.S. presidents have all been white males ...

I'm having trouble coming up with a past elected U.S. president who wasn't a white male.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

A very weak opening to the article. But it probably was that Arizona sun getting to him.

[GMMAC]

"Canada’s multi-ethnic and racial prime ministers and presidents"

???
Historically, Canada's Prime Ministers haven't been all that demographically different from America's Presidents beyond 4 whose mother tongue was nominally French (but more or less bilingual) and, very briefly, 1 female: Kim Campbell.

Bottom line: two pretty similar groups of largely older white guys.

Seemingly, you may have missed rock-solid conservative & totally pro-American author Paul Jackson's central premise which is dispelling leftist spewed lies as to inherent bigotry on the part of the U.S. electorate.

[OpusatFR]

I see that I DID have to post the /sarc sign.

My bad.

[OpusatFR]

FYI, if you didn’t know...

/sarc = sarcasm or sarcastic smarta@@ answer.

Best,

Opus

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

I could support a female President if she was like Maggie Thatcher or Golda Meier (not Hildebeast).
I could support a black President if he or she was like Mike Steele or Condi Rice.
I could support a Jewish President if he was like Ben Netanyahu.
I could support -—, it is the character of the person that counts.

[Paperdoll]

It’s high time Americans begin to close their minds to all the leftist garbage floating around the MSM and fields of education these days. Our country is going down the tubes with all these open minds!

[GMMAC]

Sarcasm is often in the mind of its author & your comment could plainly have been interpreted in more than one way.

Condescension, on the other hand, is generally considerably more self-evident.

[what's up]

Would America vote for a Frenchman?

Pierre Trudeau's election signalled a flood of socializm in Canada.

[ClearCase_guy]

To a liberal --

If you won't vote for Hillary, you are against women holding political office.
If you won't vote for Obama, you are racist.
If you won't vote for Barney Frank, you are a homophobe.

Liberals are about group identity. If you start making nuanced decisions about individuals, based on their character, then you are a Hater.

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

I agree, and unfortunately, I fear many women will vote for Hildebeast because she is a woman.

[GMMAC]

Interestingly, both nations have enjoyed a disproportionate number of top Office-holders with significant Scots' blood (e.g. currently both Bush & Harper)

"Would America vote for a Frenchman?"

Doubt that mere French ancestry - as opposed to being a stereotypical 'Frenchman' like Kerry - would make an otherwise qualified American candidate unelectable.
After all, the U.S. elected Van Buren, a 'Dutchman', & we've never had one of those.
Also, both countries have overwhelmingly elected leaders with Germanic surnames: Eisenhower & Diefenbaker.

"Pierre Trudeau's election signalled a flood of socializm in Canada. "

True & while properly despising Trudeau, one could argue that he was effectively handed the ball & told to run with it by his predecessor, Lester Pearson, who was a career civil service bureaucrat prior to gaining the PM's Office.