Is the United States ready to accept a woman as President? When Obama and Hillary Clinton ran for the Democratic nomination, it was the first time the country had to seriously consider someone who wasn't a White Man for the office of President of the U.S. Was the country more inclined to favor a Black Male leader or a White Female leader?
Of course, we know the outcome of the race, but was there data that could have predicted it?
Looking at the data set above, through the years since 1972 public acceptance of a Female President was leading acceptance of a Black President by a couple years.
In 1972, only 69% of people surveyed said they'd vote for a Black President. Compare that to 78% who said they'd vote for a Female president.Thirty-six years later in 2008, public sentiment evened out and the acceptance of a Black vs. a Female President was roughly the same.
The 2008 Democratic nomination race was fair game in terms of public opinion on race vs. gender. It really came down to who was perceived as the better candidate.
Something interesting happens, though, in 2010 (1+ year into Barrack Obama's term). Obama's successful start to his term continued to drive public opinion favorably towards a Black President. However, look what happened to public opinion on a Female President. People were less likely in 2010 to vote for a Female President than they were 20 years ago. In fact, the survey results in 2010 echo those in 1982, nearly 3 decades earlier. Not only are people less sure on the topic ("Don't Know" increased from 1% to 3%) but they were much less likely to vote for a Female President, with favor-ability dropping 10%.
What could have caused public opinion on having a Female President to suffer such a huge setback? Did Hillary losing the nomination cause people to doubt the efficacy of a Female President? Did Sarah Palin and the relentless mockery of her Vice President candidacy deal a damaging blow to public opinion of a Female President? How long will it take to sway public opinion back the other way? Another 30 years? What does this say about Hillary Clinton's chances if she runs in 2016?
