Election 2008: An Historical Time

The 2008 presidential election is historic: it's the first time that a woman was a viable candidate for President. It's also the first for a viable black candidate, although Shirley Chisholm ("unbought and unbossed") wore both shoes when she ran in 1972.

I think that she said she'd see a black man elected president before she'd see a woman in the White House. This year-old Gallop survey suggests she could be right. Although most Americans said that they were willing to elect a woman and most that they were willing to elect a black, fewer supported a woman in the White House. And a few more won't vote for a Morman. And a lot seemed to worry about candidate age.

• 94% say they'd vote for a black (84% "comfortably" and 9% "with reservations)
• 88% say they'd vote for a woman (78% "comfortably" and 10% "with reservations)
• 72% say they'd vote for a Morman (58% "comfortably" and 14% "with reservations)
• 57% say they'd vote for someone 72 years old (43% "comfortably" and 15% "with reservations)
• 55% say they'd vote for a homosexual
• 45% say they'd vote for an atheist

Blacks have made more progress than women since 1967. Back then, women edged out blacks as an acceptable candidate, but the margin of error made it a virtual tie (57% to 53%). One wonders when Gallup will conduct the poll again.

We all know that polls like this aren't perfect. Similar polls in 1962 said that Americans wouldn't vote for a Catholic for president, but we did. And although America has not had a woman as an elected national leader, other countries have: the Presidents of Finland, Indonesia, Ireland, Latvia, Panama, the Philippines, Sri Lanka; the Prime Ministers of Bangladesh, Britain, Finland, New Zealand, Peru, Sâo Tom and Príncipe; the Vice Presidents of Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Gambia , Palau, Taiwan; and the Governor-Generals of he Bahamas, Canada , Saint Lucia, New Zealand.

There were 114.1 million women of voting age in 2006 compared to only 25.7 million blacks. So which group seems more accepted as a president to you, given these relative numbers?

See Milestones for Women In American Politics; excerpt from "Unbought and Unbossed" - Shirley Chisholm Announces Candidacy (2:34); and Barbara Jordan gives the keynote at the 1976 Democratic National Convention.