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Poll: Americans Are Split About Whether They’re Ready for a Gay President

More than half of Republican respondents to the poll said they aren’t personally ready to have a gay or lesbian president.

Just half of American poll respondents said they are ready to have a gay president, according to a new survey from Politico and Morning Consult. The numbers show that 37 percent said they were either definitely or probably not ready to have a gay commander in chief. Voters also seem to be pessimistic about whether they think the country as a whole would accept having a gay president—40 percent said they thought the country was ready, but 44 percent said it is not. Pete Buttigieg, the only openly gay candidate in the race, could suffer from the attitudes exposed by the polling. Tyler Sinclair, Morning Consult’s vice president, said Buttigieg’s sexuality “may be an issue for some voters as he remains in contention for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.” Sinclair said 58 percent of Republicans and 22 percent of Democrats who responded to the poll said they weren’t personally ready to have a gay or lesbian president.