A solid majority of Americans would now be comfortable with a president who is gay or lesbian, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.
A full 61 percent of respondents reported being “enthusiastic” or “comfortable” with a gay or lesbian president, up from 43 percent in a similar poll conducted in 2006, an increase of 18 percent. Meanwhile, Americans comfortable or enthusiastic about an evangelical Christian president received a more tepid 52 percent approval, up 11 percent from the 2006 poll’s 41 percent mark.
The poll also included similar questions about hypothetical African-American presidents, female presidents and Hispanic presidents, all of which received approval levels between 82 and 86 percent, each representing a single-digit percentage over the 2006 survey. Of the five selections, an Evangelical Christian president was the least accepted, while the gay/lesbian option was the runaway winner in growth percentage between the two polls.
This study comes on the heels of a March survey, also conducted by Wall Street Journal/NBC News, in which a record 59 percent of American respondents said they were in favor of same-sex marriage.
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