Wednesday, February 21, 2007

John McCain is Old

The Gallup poll making the rounds has highlighted the resistance Americans have to Mormons (24% said they wouldn't vote for one). But even more unelectable are men thrice-married (30% oppose) or 72 years old (42% oppose), as are Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, respectively. In fact, only gays and athiests are more objectionable than old men.

Of course, those are generic numbers, and people are probably more positive about McCain than they are worried about his age. Still, it demonstrates the problem he confronts. Below is a handy Table of the Objectionable and the corresponding candidate who fits the slot.
Category________No Worries___Worries___Candidate
Catholic
____________95%________4% _______NA
Black_______________94%________5% _______Obama
Woman______________ 88%________11% ______Hillary
Hispanic___________ 87%________12% ______Richardson
Mormon
_____________ 72%________24% ______Romney
Married 3x
_________ 67%________30% ______Giuliani
72 years old
_______ 57%________42% ______McCain
I also wonder whether people are more likely to tell the truth about their worries about age (no social stigma) than race (a big one). In any case, interesting.

4 comments:

Kari Chisholm said...

...and funny-looking.

Chuck Butcher said...

Hey, wow, not only am I not too old, I have none of the other negatives. That'll get me ... um ... 1 vote? (that's if my wife votes just to get me out of the house)

Zakariah Johnson said...

Not a single Catholic? Really? Wow, that's kind of shocking.

I think it's interesting that the polls indicate that Republicans are much more likely to have worries about Mormons than Democrats. Presumeably the same holds for Giuliani's "family values," I mean, hey--the guy's so pro-family he's got three, right? Combine Giuliani's private turmoils and Romney's religion with their dual records of supporting gun control and gay rights and either the Republican Party is in for a major re-alignment in its platform or Grand-Pa McCain already has it sown up.

Jeff Alworth said...

Not a single Catholic? Really? Wow, that's kind of shocking.

Well, Giuliani's Catholic. But his thrice-married status jumped him into a higher lever of Objectionability, so that's what's reflected.