Do you think Americans are most likely to elect...
 

Which candidate has the best chance for the Presidency?
1. a female
2. someone from an ethnic minority
3. a non-Christian
4. a homosexual person
5. someone who is (relatively)poor

a non-Christian, if he is Jewish.

I think Americans would easily elect someone who is relatively poor - the issue is not their personal wealth, but the fact that they don't have enough money to mount a campaign.

Good point.

You have to have financial security to run for President - after all, you're often campaigining for two years or more -- and a regular joe who works a 9 to 5 might not have put away enough savings to make that committment. A truly poor person would never make it. The presidency is for the wealthy and well-connected.

I think a non-Christian, especially if he is Jewish, could be elected president. Second to that would be a woman. Of course, if Alma Powell ever got off Colin's back and he decided to run, then I think he would stand an excellent chance at the office.

If I'm not mistaken, and please correct me, wasn't there already a few Atheist presidents? Also, Abraham Lincoln wasn't a rich man when he became president.

Yes, but that was before huge campaign budgets were needed to get elected. You have to spend some of your own money on your campaign, and to get rich and corporate donors you have to at least advocate rich-friendly policies... You can't be completely socialist.

On the atheist thing--nope. Well, Thomas Jefferson was a 'theist', but he did believe in God in a roundabout way. Some of them may have not been particularly religious, but traditionally it's difficult to get elected if you're not a WASP. When JFK was elected as the first (and only I think) Catholic president, it was a big deal!

Re: Do you think Americans are most likely to elect...
 

1. Poor - Clinton grew up poor right?
2. An ethnic minority, especially Collin Powell
3. a non-Christian or a woman (tied)
4. a homosexual

This is the way I imagine things panning out in the future, but who knows... hopefully the country will pleasantly surprise me.

I always thought it would be great if we could just a woman and a black man to run against each other and people would have to choose one (Colin Powell and Hillary Clinton?)...

In the order of most likely/soonest to happen to least likely/last to happen:

1 - Less well-off person
2 - Non-Christian (as long as they aren't a satanist or something)
3 - Ethnic minority like Greek or Turkish, maybe Hispanic or something
4 - Woman
5 - Ethnic minority, African American or Middle Eastern
6 - Homosexual

Re: Re: Do you think Americans are most likely to elect...
 

Yeah, but by the time he ran for political offices he was quite well-off through investments and his fairly lucrative law firm.

1 - Jewish. We nearly had a Jewish VP...
2 - a woman
3 - an ethnic minority
4 - other non-Christian
5 - relatively poor
6 - homosexual. It's still too controversial.

1-minority (yay, collin powell!)
2-woman (vote dole!!)
3-less personal wealth (get the financial backing and away you go!)
4-homosexual (i think as long as long as the prez doesn't do drag on the strip, no biggie) ;)
5-non-christian (a lot of ppl still believe this country was founded on christian principles, so it would be hard for some to get past...)

3 and 4 are kinda tied, actually, to me

wow, that's really interesting. I haven't looked at anyone else's answers yet so here's what i think:

a female
I think that a female will most likely get the nomination (i'm guessing democrat) in the next 10-15 years. The presidency?? maybe a few years after that

someone from an ethnic minority
I think that if Colin Powell had run a few years ago he would have definitely won. I think that this country is ready for a leader in an ethnic minority

a non-Christian
that depends on the religion. i think that an islamic person would be less likely to win the presidency than most others just because of how our country reacted to 9/11. I think that as long as the canidate didn't make his/her religion an issue it wouldn't be a problem.

a homosexual person
This is a lot less likely to occur, especially if the canidate is open about his/her sexuality. Although it seems to be the minority now there are still a lot of people who look down on those who are homosexual.

someone who is (relatively)poor
this will not happen for a long time. campaigns need money and people are less likely to support a poorer person jsut because they won't have as much money to work with of their own. a lot of canidates use their own resources now.

and it will go
1. jewish
2. ethnic minority
3. female
4. poorer person
5. homosexual
6. other nonchristian religious faith

I would have to say a non Christian and then maybe ethnic minority then a woman.

Someone from an ethnic minority or a female.

Re: Re: Re: Do you think Americans are most likely to elect...
 

I think that Colin Powell, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Elizabeth Dole, or Sen. Leiberman could potentially become the President.

1. An ethnic minority
2. A non-Christian
3. A female
4. A homosexual person
5. Someone who is (relatively) poor

Which candidate has the best chance for the Presidency?

1. someone who is (relatively)poor - I don't think this is such a big deal. Yes, you have to have financial backing to run for President, but as for it being an issue among constituents, I don't think it would be.
2. someone from an ethnic minority - Colin Powell!!!
3. a female - So I'm biased, but I think a woman should be President at some point :) As long as it isn't Hillary Clinton, that is. ;) Can we say Elizabeth Dole?
4. a non-Christian - It depends on what type of "non-Christian" they are. But I find it unlikely that they would be elected (especially in the South)
5. a homosexual person - I personally do not think this will EVER happen.

Who's more likely to win a presidential election in America?

This is totally interesting. I agree that if money weren't a requirement to fund a campaign, then a poor person would do well. However, being realistic, this is how I see it:

In order of likeliest:
1. Ethnic minority- most likely only if they are black and christian
2. & 3. (tie) non-Chrisitan or female- I think they both have strong groups that would support them. However, I know a lot of religions think women shouldn't be leaders.. so those people who were stricter, so to speak, would have to choose between someone that shouldn't be a leader and someone with different religious beliefs- both offensive to them I imagine.
4.Homosexual- as long as they kept it pretty much under wraps. I think there are too many people in this country that are threatened by them and/or think that homosexualty is inherently evil.
5.Poor-again, only because they don't have the immediate funding to finance their campaign.

Disclaimer: I don't hold any of the above beliefs, but I know many Americans, unfortunately, do

That all being said, I had this great friend in college. My other friends and I would always tell her she was going to be the first female president & the first black president. (And she'd make a damn good president!). I recently got together with some friends, and she came up in conversation - she has a Master's, spent some time in Africa, and is now working on her Ph.D. from what I gathered. And we all still agree that one day we're going to flip on our TV and see her announcing that she's running for president! So when you see Sayo's name on that ballot, vote for her! :D (Did I mention she's also a fine member of Alpha Kappa Alpha?)

1. By poor, I assumed we were discussing the upbringing--Bill Clinton as opposed to the Bushes--and all that comes with being born and raised in upper-class society. Since we have had a President from humble beginnings in very recent history, a "relatively poor" president is more likely.
2. Non-Christian--but only Jewish. No Eastern religions or atheism.
3. Woman--but probably white, from an upper-class background. Think Senator Clinton.
4. Ethnic minority--but probably from an upper-class background, and probably conservative in political viewpoints. Military background is a plus.
5. Homosexual.Too many damned homophobes.

As much as I would like to think that our country is accepting of any and all diversity, I don't think we're going to have a Buddhist
Vietnamese Lesbian President in our lifetimes--even if she is loaded. The feasibility of a President who is outside of our norm--upper-class, white, Christian heterosexual male--will only be so when he/she conforms to most of that norm.

i think they would elect a woman, followed by a minority.

i don't ever foresee a gay president, or even a jewish president.

i wish another catholic would run. jfk was one of the best presidents we ever had