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?”
For more about Portrait of America and the methodology behind First Verdict, click here. For the complete Portrait of America catalog, click here.
