According to a new poll from Politico/Morning Consult, 50 percent of voters said they were either definitely ready (33 percent) or probably ready (17 percent) for the election of a gay or lesbian president. Nearly a quarter of respondents said they were definitely not ready, and 13 percent said they were probably not ready for such a scenario.
But when asked if they thought the country as a whole was ready for a gay or lesbian president, most voters said no. Forty-five percent of those polled said they country was either definitely not (24 percent) or probably not (21 percent) ready for an openly gay commander in chief. Just 19 percent responded that America was definitely ready, and 21 percent said it was probably ready.
Respondents’ outlook got even bleaker when asked about whether they believed their neighbors were ready for a gay or lesbian president. Only 11 percent of those polled said their neighbors were definitely ready, and 15 percent said probably ready. That compares with 46 percent who said their neighbors were either definitely not or probably not on board with a gay or lesbian person in the White House.
The Politico/Morning Consult poll, released Wednesday morning, surveyed nearly 2,000 registered voters from October 25 to 28 and has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
For the first time in any presidential election, voters may have the opportunity to cast their ballot in 2020 for an openly gay candidate. Democrat Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is the first openly gay man to run for president.
Earlier this month, Buttigieg unveiled a plan to usher in a “new era” for the LGBTQ community. The sweeping proposal includes passing anti-discrimination legislation, banning conversion therapy and adding nonbinary options to passports. Buttigieg would also reverse many of the Trump administration’s anti-LGBTQ policies, like the transgender military ban.
“Twenty years ago, an awkward teenager at St. Joe High, who didn’t know a single out LGBTQ+ student there, never would have imagined how far we would come,” Buttigieg said in a statement outlining the agenda. But he added that the country still has a long way to go.
“And yet discrimination and the ever-present fear of it continue to govern aspects of LGBTQ+ people’s lives, who question if they can be who they are and keep their job, or come out at school knowing they might be bullied for it. When I’m president, we will implement solutions bold enough to meet the challenges the LGBTQ+ community faces while bringing the American people together to understand that our freedoms are bound up in each other,” he said.
