The Glass Is 94% Full

The Gallup organization recently polled the American public with questions about their vote for president: All things being equal - would they vote for a woman, an African-American, or a Mormon? What about a really old person, or a homosexual? And while this blogger thinks excessive "identity politics" are tiresome and outdated - it still seems worthwhile to take the temperature of the American populace on these issues occasionally, given the social changes of the past 50-odd years.

There are two ways to look at the results - and which way you choose will be a function of your personality.

To me, it's good news 94% of the public could care less if a candidate is black. There are people who feather their ideological nest with the assertion that the public, without the guidance of liberal politicians, is quite naturally racist, sexist, and (left unsaid, usually) congenitally stupid. They fear the hillbillies in Jesusland, and are convinced of their position among the enlightened few. It must be something of a shock to learn that skin color is irrelevant to the vast majority of people when selecting a president.

Now, this still means we have about 18 million racists - doing the math on a country of our population. Don't get me wrong, this is unfortunate - but this is a small fraction of the American public, and whatever societal harm they can do with their preconceptions is blunted by the fact that the vast majority of us stand in opposition. And I'm also willing to assume that this people are from an older demographic, and they are quite literally dying off.

The rest of the poll is interesting too - 92% would vote for a Jewish person, and 87% for a Hispanic. (None, to my knowledge are running.) And 72% of us would vote for a Mormon president, whereas a candidate on a third marriage only 67%. If you're playing along at home those buckets map to Romney and Giuliani. McCain doesn't fare so well - folks older than the age of 72 only earn 57%, whereas homosexual candidate a mere 55%. The two biggest downsides, in my opinion, are the 12% of the population who would not vote for a woman and the 45% who couldn't tolerate a gay candidate - although I can recognize the tidal demographic reasons in the latter case.

The most shocking news - only 45% of Americans would vote for an atheist. This should be a devastating blow to the secular Left, the folks who make it their stock and trade to endlessly ridicule the spiritual, churchgoing public. Americans appear to feel that any type of values are preferable to the faithless haze of materialism, and for all of their supposed bigotry, thank God (quite literally) that the level-headed American public is more eager and willing to elect a Jewish gay black woman over any muttering atheist.