Most Republicans Apparently Don't Want A Woman President For As Long As They're Alive

When asked whether they would like to see "the United States elect a woman president" for the country, most Republicans reject the idea of a woman president in their lifetime. The findings from a recent YouGov poll showed different attitudes toward the possibility of a female president in the White House: a staggering 59 percent of Republicans said no to the notion.

YouGov posed the question as, "Do you personally hope that the United States elects a woman President of the United States in your lifetime, or not?" The poll differentiated groups along the lines of gender, age, race, family income, census region, voter registration, which candidate they voted for in 2016, general political ideology, and party identification.

YouGov polled 1,500 adults between April 22 and 24 with a 3 percent error margin. Across Democrats, Republicans, and independents, the majority of all respondents combined said yes to the idea of a woman president. That majority made up 66 percent of the entire pool of people, while only 34 percent said no.

Out of Democrats, a whopping 89 percent said yes to a woman president, and 11 percent said no. Sixty-three percent of Americans who identified as independents gave a thumbs-up to a female president, while 37 percent rejected it. But among Republicans, the majority (59 percent) gave a thumbs-down to a female president, while 41 percent said that they would like to see a woman lead the United States.

When it came to ideology, similar tendencies became obvious among liberals, conservatives, moderates, and the "not-sure" participants — a group of people who did not identify with any particular spot on the political spectrum. While 91 percent of liberals said they hoped for a woman president of the country, only 40 percent of conservatives said yes to the same idea.

Among moderates, 75 percent agreed with the idea of a female leader of the United States while only 25 percent of moderates said no. But even the "not-sure" types showed more interest in a female president than conservatives. Sixty-six percent of the "not-sure" individuals polled agreed with the notion of a woman president, while 34 percent gave it a thumbs-down.

If you're curious about regional attitudes, then you might want to know that out of all four polled regions — that's the Northeast, Midwest, South, and West — the Northeast exhibited the most open attitude to the possibility of seeing a woman president of the United States, according to the YouGov poll.

The majority of Northeasterners in the poll, at 71 percent, said yes, while the the Midwest was the least open to the notion at 62 percent. Meanwhile, 65 percent of people polled from the South said they would like to see a woman president. This was only 1 percent less than the majority of 66 percent of West polled members who said yes to a female leader.

Of course, gender-wise, the poll showed different attitudes among men and women, too. The majority of men (60 percent) said yes to a Madam President — but it was significantly lower than the 71 percent of women who said yes to the same notion. According to the YouGov poll, younger people (that is, between 18 to 29 years old) were most likely to agree with a female leader at 70 percent. People aged 65 and above were the least likely, at 61 percent, to hope for a woman spearheading the United States.

The YouGov points to a larger question in American society: Will the country ever have a woman as its president? Clearly, by the looks of the poll, it's a subject that garners a lot of conflicted feelings. Some even argue that much of the hesitation in America to imagine a woman leading the country is itself rooted in a contemptuous prejudice against women.