I don’t think there’s any data to prove that. There have only been two women ever nominated by a major party, and they both had substantial electoral problems absent their gender.
Remember, a “big chunk of the voting population” would never vote for a reality TV show host. Or for a Black man. Or for the son of a previous president. Or for a movie star. Or for a Catholic. Or for someone who had never served in the armed forces. Or for someone who wasn’t supported by the Southern states. Or for someone who wasn’t from one of the 13 original colonies. Or for someone from the Whig party. Or for someone who wasn’t alive during the Revolution. —in each case, until it happened.
47 (really 45, Cleveland and Trump being one person but having two administrations each) just isn’t a big enough number to draw any statistical significance from. And we’ve elected women to every other elected office for decades. And other countries that are no more progressive than we are have elected women.
I’m not saying that women wouldn’t have to excel to beat a merely-adequate man in a presidential race; but for a good candidate, their gender isn’t as much of a drag on the vote as a ton of other factors.
I don’t think there’s any data to prove that. There have only been two women ever nominated by a major party, and they both had substantial electoral problems absent their gender.
Remember, a “big chunk of the voting population” would never vote for a reality TV show host. Or for a Black man. Or for the son of a previous president. Or for a movie star. Or for a Catholic. Or for someone who had never served in the armed forces. Or for someone who wasn’t supported by the Southern states. Or for someone who wasn’t from one of the 13 original colonies. Or for someone from the Whig party. Or for someone who wasn’t alive during the Revolution. —in each case, until it happened.
47 (really 45, Cleveland and Trump being one person but having two administrations each) just isn’t a big enough number to draw any statistical significance from. And we’ve elected women to every other elected office for decades. And other countries that are no more progressive than we are have elected women.
I’m not saying that women wouldn’t have to excel to beat a merely-adequate man in a presidential race; but for a good candidate, their gender isn’t as much of a drag on the vote as a ton of other factors.