Electable or Not?
Pam Meister has a column up over at American Thinker which uses an admittedly limited informal poll to ask whether women would vote for Hillary Clinton if she runs for president. Pam isn't trying to say this is a scientific poll, but it presents a couple of really interesting viewpoints.
Conducting polls can be an excellent way to collect information, but pollsters don't get into the minds of the respondents. It's all well and good to find out if people will vote for a particular candidate, but it's much more interesting to discover why or why not. When it comes to the possibility of women voting a woman into the highest office in the land in the most powerful country in the world, it's probably more instructive to ask real women how they feel about Hillary. Many of us know what the celebrities and pundits think, but they are a minority. What do your neighbors think? What does your mother think?
Here, you'll see a non-random sampling of answers to the following question I asked: Would you vote for Hillary Clinton in 2008? Why or why not? The respondents are of varying ages, backgrounds, and political beliefs. Let's take a look at what average women are saying:
Cindy, 33: I would not vote for Hillary Clinton. The Whitewater Scandal, coupled with her decision to stay with her philandering husband, are [sic]the biggest strikes against her for me. She is not a positive female role model in my book.
Julie, 45: I am not opposed to voting for Hillary. I do not have a definite answer, as I vote for the best "man"/team and not knowing her running mate or who she would run against, I cannot give you an answer. Although I think it is high time for a woman president, I would not vote for a woman who I did not agree on political views just to get a woman in office.
There are quite a few others, go over and take a look. Some of the baggage Hillary carries will cause problems for her, as several of the opinions point out.
Blogosphere, Politics | Gaius Tuesday, 5 December , 2006
By syn, Tuesday, 5 December , 2006 @ 11:17 am
I am woman who would vote for a women but not for a feminist, Hillary is a feminist and feminists to me are totalitarianists.