Poll: Most Americans Would Support Gay Presidential Candidate

Following an Advocate article pondering the electability of an openly gay candidate for president, a new nationwide poll from Zogby International found that 65% of likely voters would support an openly gay person to serve as president of the United States if they believed he or she was the most qualified person for the post.

The results were similar for a vice presidential candidate, with 66% saying they would back a gay VP whom they believed had the right skill set, and 69% said they would support an out candidate for the U.S. Senate. More than 70% of respondents said they would support an openly gay person to serve as a cabinet-level secretary.

“These results prove that most Americans want to be fair to gay people,” said Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Institute, a nonpartisan leadership development organization. "Our aspiration is to always see each other as individuals first, and though we may not always succeed at that, our underlying fairness and decency means that one day soon we will. This marks tremendous progress for our community and for the voting public."

The poll of 1,089 adults, conducted August 13–15 for GLLI, had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points. (The Advocate)

Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

Name: The Threshold
Date posted: 2008-08-26 1:06 AM
Hometown: USA

Comment:

Some say Abraham Lincoln was in the closet himself which isn't too far fetched. He kept a journal and wrote poems about homosexuality. There's also talk about guard(s) having spent the night in his room. He always looked kind of different to me then the other men in his day. He groomed hismelf a little more than usual. I always got the sense that it may have been a possibility while looking at his pictures. It's amazing though, but not ironic how quickly people often conservatives will dispute this, but they dispute almost anyone even Shakespeare. Afterall they don't want a gay president to have existed, esp. not the man who ended slavery. Many blacks feel that gays are just saying this to gain sympathy from blacks and support for gay rights.

Name: Terzian
Date posted: 2008-08-22 2:57 PM
Hometown: Bowling Green, OH

Comment:

I'm going to have to call some severe BS on this poll. C'mon, guys... roughly 1000 people will NEVER represent the American public accurately. The pool of voters polled was simply too small. Also, where did these potential voters come from?n If they're all from the same area of the country, then the poll is going to be very far off. Even if it's stratified, you wouldn't have enough people from the different regions, walks of life, ages, etc. to get an accurate fix. Come back when you've polled 10,000 people... and then we'll talk. By they way... you can add me to the list of WOULD vote for, if qualified otherwise. - Terz

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