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Americans Not Ready for Hispanic President
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many people in the United States believe their fellow citizens are not prepared to embrace a Hispanic president, according to a poll by Princeton Survey Research Associates published in Newsweek. 48 per cent of respondents think the country is not ready to elect a Hispanic leader.
Conversely, at least 58 per cent of respondents think America is ready to elect a Mormon, an African-American or a woman president. In addition, 92 per cent of respondents say they would vote for an African-American presidential nominee, and more than 80 per cent feel the same way about a woman or a Hispanic. Support is lower for a Mormon, at 66 per cent.
The next presidential election is scheduled for November 2008. The Democratic Party's candidates include Illinois senator Barack Obama, the son of a white mother and a black father; New York senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is the only woman in the race; and New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, the son of a Mexican mother. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, a Mormon, is seeking the Republican Party's nomination.
Asked about how he is managing his Hispanic descent during the campaign, Richardson recently declared: "I'm not running as a Latino candidate. I'm running as an American governor who is enormously proud to be Latino."
Polling Data
Do you think America is ready to elect...
Yes | No | Not sure | |
A Mormon president | 66% | 27% | 7% |
An African-American president | 59% | 30% | 11% |
A woman president | 58% | 32% | 10% |
A Hispanic president | 39% | 48% | 13% |
If your party nominated (the following) for president, would you vote for that person if (he or she) were qualified for the job?
Yes | No | Not sure | |
An African-American president | 92% | 4% | 4% |
A woman president | 86% | 9% | 5% |
A Hispanic president | 81% | 14% | 5% |
A Mormon president | 66% | 27% | 7% |
Source: Princeton Survey Research Associates / Newsweek
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,001 American adults, conducted on Jul. 2 and Jul. 3, 2007. Margin of error is 4 per cent.