There are some similarities and also some striking differences between them. This poll asks two things.
For the sake of building bridges over some ongoing divisions within the Democrat party while helping to propel it ahead in relevant ways, the rise of which potential presidential candidate would be more beneficial?
And of course it asks who if nominated would fare better against Trump.
This is all no more than hypothetical since I haven’t heard anything more than speculation about Klobuchar or Baldwin running for president and am ignorant whether either would raise funds to do so.
Kind of an odd comparison. Klobuchar has been out on the national stage for a while, she’s always on cable news and the Sunday morning shows. Baldwin is fairly invisible, and let’s face it, I don’t think the USA is ready for a gay president.
I think the USA is quite ready for a gay President, but Baldwin probably isn’t it. Klobuchar, by contrast, I don’t know much about her, but a lot of Senators I do respect say she’s very good to work with and always prepared. She’s also one of the most popular Senators in the country. So I’m open to the idea.
A gay President I think we would elect, if they are actually gay, would be Charlie Crist or Cory Booker. But my gut tells me they are not gay, because I just don’t see much of a downside politically to it anymore unless you’re brand is conservative religious right Republican. Which Crist kinda was for awhile, but isn’t now.
I don’t want to hijack this thread, but black and Latino voters are a huge part of the Democratic Party and they are more conservative on LGBT issues. It was a huge fight to get a lot of the black lawmakers on board to legalize same sex marriage in Illinois, for example.
I think that’s mainly an intraparty thing though. When it’s Dem vs. Dem, that’s going to matter. But once a democrat is nominated I don’t think being gay would be a barrier to blacks and Latinos voting for the candidate, although as always turnout can be a worry with those groups if they aren’t enthusiastic about the candidate.
That is how I see it. It seems that national elections are won and lost on the edges (Trump in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania. W Bush in Florida.) A candidate being gay could be factor to keep just enough people from voting.
Maybe. I remember how much Obama coming out for gay marriage changed attitudes towards gay marriage in the black community. I bet if Booker was gay and came out that he’d have no trouble getting African-American voters to the polls and would probably change attitudes in that community even more.