Race, Gender, and Opinion Toward Black and Female Presidential Candidates

Abstract

Using data from the 1974 and 1978 General Social Surveys, public opinion toward blacks and women as presidential candidates was explored. We tested the hypotheses that white males would be least likely to support presidential candidates from both groups, while black females would be the most likely to express this support. We found that although blacks in general were more supportive of black candidacies than were whites, women were not consistently more supportive of female candidates. While black women were more likely than black males to support female candidates, among whites few gender differences were found.