Number of Americans who say US ready for female president dipping: Survey

Since 2015, the number of Americans who say they are ready for a female president has dropped by nine points, according to a new Times/SAY24 poll from YouGov poll.

The survey, conducted after President Biden dropped out of the race, was designed to assess the electorate’s beliefs surrounding “gender bias,” and Vice President Harris’s chances come November.

While the respondents said that both Trump and Harris are equally qualified for the job, with 49 percent saying they are, voters are hesitant about the idea of a female president — 54 percent of the country says they are ready for a woman president and 30 percent said they aren't. 

That number is down from 2015, when an Economist/YouGov poll found 63 percent of voters were ready for a woman president. That survey was taken in May of that year, just a month after Hillary Clinton declared her candidacy for president, and a month before she became the first woman to secure a major party’s presidential nomination. 

As Harris contends to be the second to do so, gender may serve as a significant roadblock. Forty-one percent of Americans assume that more than half of their fellow countrymen would not be willing to vote for a woman over a man if the two candidates are equally qualified. 

The assessment extends to members of the Democratic party. While 77 percent say the country is ready for a woman president, 37 percent think their fellow Americans wouldn’t vote for an equally qualified woman. These anxieties may have led 35 percent of Democrats to say Harris should choose a man as her running mate, and only 6 percent to say that she should choose a woman.

Still among Democrats that could be selected as a running mate, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had the highest favorability at 27 percent. She has taken herself out of consideration for the vice presidency, instead choosing to join the Harris campaign as a co-chair. 

Two top contenders for the VP nomination poll favorably as well — former astronaut Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) both rate at 22 percent.

The YouGov Poll was conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday among 1,170 registered U.S. voters. The margin of error was 3 percent.