Does it make a difference?

[pond]

Some say their is no elephant in the room during this election.

that is fine, for some who claim it must all be about what each individual brings to the table.

I see an elephant.

We for the first time have a woman and a black man running for the highest office in America.

How much does race or sex influence you as a voter?

the news report that black woman have the conflict over this choice .

I am not asking to debate issues each brings to the table but rather how race or sex Influence your decision on who would be the best president.

this is my first poll thing i really have no clue what this will look like comments are just as good if I messed it up.

Edited January 22, 2008 by pond

[pond]

the pop ups are killing me ignore them if you can! they are unbelievable

[GrouchoMarxJr]

My guess is that somewhere around 20% of those who vote will cast a vote based solely on gender, race or both...

Unfortunately, there are no shortages of dimwits and borderline morons who stumble into the voting booths.

[mstar1]

We for the first time have a woman and a black man running for the highest office in America.

Huh? off the top of my head I can think of a Woman (Mararet Chase Smith), a black man ( Al Sharpton) and even a black woman (Shirley Chisholm) who have all run for president before. Im sure there are more.. None of them won because a majority of the voters didnt think they were qualified tio hold the office

How much does race or sex influence you as a voter?

None- zero--I could care less what someones race or sex is

The country has serious issues that need to be addressed, my vote is going to whoever imo can do the job best, I dont reallly care if they are green --it doesnt matter to me.

Im sure there is some percentage of voters out there who will vote for 'the black guy' because he's black, the woman because shes a woman just as some voters will vote for 'the white guy' solely because he is white or vote for the one with the best suit or the best haircut.

Personally I think this country has bigger issues

that the best person for the job should handle

[pond]

thank you for your reply.

you do not see an elephant.

no one previous to this election has won past the primarys ... just a thought alot of people do run one year a guy who thought we should make contact with his good friends the aliens ran he didnt get far either.

many run for president this is the first time contenders can have a choice.

do i think it should be an influence? no

do i think it has an influence? absolutely.

[waysider]

Excellent questions, Pond!

[Ron G.]

I doubt that being a woman will have any significant bearing on Hillary Clinton. People either like it a lot or they dislike it intensely with few in between, it seems.

Women governors have been around for a very long time. the first woman governor of Texas, Miriam A. "MA" Ferguson was elected to that office in 1925, and again in 193something...maybe 32. She wasn't the nations first woman governor, however, as Wyoming elected one a year or so earlier, as I recall.

Interestingly, MA Ferguson was elected governor, after her husband was impeached and removed from the governors office, with the slogan "Two governors for the price of one".

Sounds eerily familiar...doesn't it?

In 1996, I voted for a pair that inlcuded Jo Jorgensen as candidate for Vice President, and then, of course, there was Geraldine Ferraro in '84. I don't seem to recall that being a major issue, then.

I don't think it'll make any significant difference since woman governors and other office holders have been around since the early part of the 20th century.

As for blacks, that might play a little differently, but I sorta doubt that, too. As mstar pointed out, that's not without precedent, either.

[markomalley]

I would be proud to vote for a woman for office. A couple of figures come to mind: Margaret Thatcher. Jeanne Kirkpatrick. There are others, of course.

I would be proud to vote for a black man for office. A couple of figures come to mind: Michael Steele, JC Watts. There are others, of course.

I would prefer that race and sex would not be issues, but that a person's positions on the issues of the day were the determinants. But as long as 'race politics' and 'gender politics' are issues discussed during election cycles, the race and sex of the candidates will continue to be factors.

[rhino]

Overall I would probably lean slightly to a non white non male ... that leaves several minorities, and females or daffy duck.

But that would be a small factor.

I just saw Obama on CNBC talking with Jack Welch, who seemed to like Obama better than Hillary or Edwards.

Dick Morris seems to think the strong black vote for Obama instead of Hillary, may turn the white Democrat vote away from Obama.

Now the idea that Obama has been "ghettoized" as the "black" candidate has become the accepted template for the campaign--even the point that a win in hotly contested South Carolina on Saturday is seen as actually hurting Obama because (in Dick Morris' analysis)

[w]atching blacks block vote for Obama will trigger a white backlash that will help Hillary win Florida and to prevail the week after.

Here we thought we were getting the Mondale/Hart campaign of 1984--without Mondale's likeability or Hart's weirdness--and instead we get the Dukakis campaign of 1988, in which an marginally likeable establishment figure established his mainstream (white) bona fides by running around the country thumping Jesse Jackson.

[pond]

to write policy for a city or to govern is not exactly dealing with the world order as the commander in chief.

Some foriegn countries do not accept the notion of equality for woman .

do you think if a woman is voted as the leader of our MILITARY it will effect how we are responded too during sanctions and talks regarding policy in these foriegn countries?

[ex70sHouston]

Call me short sighted or dumb. I really don't give a rats a@s what other coutry's think of my president. He or she is mine and not his.

Race and gender will play a part in this election.

Bill won by being a centrist. Moving to the middle. Right now I view Hillary as that person in the Dem party.

Personaly I'm looking at McCain and Huckaby.

I'd vote for Cody Rice.

Edited January 23, 2008 by ex70'shouston

[GeorgeStGeorge]

Being more conservative in my views, I wouldn't vote for Hillary or Obama because they're liberals.

I, like Ex70's, would probably vote for Condoleezza Rice.

George

P.S. Frankly, I expect that the first woman and/or black to be elected President will be a Republican, because a lot of Democrats would vote for him/her on the basis of race/gender.

[pond]

Being more conservative in my views, I wouldn't vote for Hillary or Obama because they're liberals.

I, like Ex70's, would probably vote for Condoleezza Rice.

George

P.S. Frankly, I expect that the first woman and/or black to be elected President will be a Republican, because a lot of Democrats would vote for him/her on the basis of race/gender.

that is an interesting observation George lol

Rice is to smart to ruin her career and become president, she has influence because she has integrity in the community at large, if she ran theywill shred her to pieces I think and she doesnt need it.