Following an Advocatearticle
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)
