Only 45% of Americans said they would be willing to vote for a socialist for president, while 53% say they would not, according to a Gallup poll released on Tuesday.
Gallup also asked voters on their willingness to choose candidates with other diverse characteristics, but “socialist” was the only one receiving majority opposition.
The question was phrased: "Between now and the 2020 political conventions, there will be discussion about the qualifications of presidential candidates -- their education, age, religion, race and so on. If your party nominated a generally well-qualified person for president who happened to be [characteristic], would you vote for that person?"
Other results from the survey show:
- More than 90% say they would vote for a presidential candidate nominated by their party who happened to be black, Catholic, Hispanic, Jewish or a woman.
- About 8 in 10 said they would be willing to vote for evangelical Christians, gays or lesbians, while some 60%-70% would vote for someone who is under 40 years of age, over 70, a Muslim or an atheist.
- Seventy-six percent of Democrats are willing to vote for a socialist, but only 17% of Republicans say the same. Among Independents, 45% would be willing to do so.
- The overall percentage of those willing to vote for a socialist has dropped two points from the same question five years ago.
The poll was conducted Jan. 16-29 among 1,033 adults. There is a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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