At the weekend – at a rally for Hillary Clinton – the former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said that “there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women”. It was interpreted by many as a clumsy attempt to reduce Senator Bernie Sanders’ big opinion poll lead in New Hampshire.
In yesterday’s YouGov First Verdict survey we found 9% of respondents agreed that “women have a special responsibility to vote for a woman to become president”. 90% disagreed.
The survey found mixed views on whether the election of a female president would advance equality. 37% thought it would be good for equality. 20% said it would make no real difference because sexism was too ingrained. Another 26% did not believe that there is much or any sexism in society.
The full question was “Do you think the election of a woman as president would cause ripple effects throughout American society and more women would advance in boardrooms, Hollywood and in universities?”

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