America is looking at an alternative to a white male president. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., are two of several presidential candidates of the Democratic Party. Although half of voting Democrats support one of these two senators, a new poll from rasmussenreports.com states that 60 percent of American voters believe that democrats are likely to nominate a white male.
Charles Noble, a political science professor at Cal State Long Beach, is not surprised by the new poll and said the primaries are more important.
“It’s too early to tell,” Noble said. He also stated that the general response is not as reliable this early in the season, seeing how there is not enough information about either Clinton or Obama for voters to really make a decision.
Clinton has 33 percent of the Democratic support followed by Obama with 19 percent. Possible GOP nominees include Mayor Rudy Giuliani, R-N.Y,with 29 percent of GOP support and Sen. John McCain, Ariz.-R, following with 19 percent, according to rasmusenreports.com.
Tim Storey, a CSULB alumnus, said Democrats who are voting for Clinton and Obama want to see a change.
“It would be a misrepresentation of the party if a white male was nominated, but having anything but a white male is quite a gamble. I think a lot of Democrats don’t think it’s worth losing the election over,” Storey said.
“It’s just the nature of the political system,” said international business major Todd Hutton. “The Democrats are going to do whatever it takes to win the presidency, and that means nominating a white male.”
Public relations major Aj Lester said, “The poll is probably 100 percent true. White males dominate our presidential system and I don’t see how that is going to change.” He also said the Democratic Party is going to do everything possible to secure a Democratic president in 2008, “which means nominating a white male.”
Kenny Hill, a political science major, said Clinton and Obama have their own political baggage that will prohibit them from beating any white male in the presidential race. Hill said America will not look at their qualifications, but will see them as a woman and a black man running for president.
Of the 800 people surveyed in this national poll, 80 percent were willing to vote for either a woman or a black candidate, although only 50 percent of them think their family, friends, or co-workers would be willing to vote the same, according to rasmussenreports.com.
