Seems to me that Obama had the level of charisma that Hillary did not. (Neither do Biden or Harris). Bill Clinton had charisma, too. (So did Bernie.)
Also, imagine that you had a button that would make everyone magically forget about the race and gender for a moment. I think that the people who voted for Obama would still feel the same, but the people who voted for Hillary would need to think hard about why, and probably their only rationalization would be “so that Trump does not win”.
I am not an American, so my perception of American elections is probably extremely unrepresentative, but it felt like Obama was about “hope” and “change”, while Hillary was about “vote for Her, because she is a woman, so she deserves to be the president”.
I’m still really not sure there isn’t a gender effect!
I guess there are people (both men and women) who in principle wouldn’t vote for a woman leader. But there are also people who would be happy to give a woman a chance. Not sure which group is larger.
But the wannabe woman leader should not make her campaign about her being a woman. That feels like admitting that she has no other interesting qualities. She needs to project the aura of a competent person who just happens to be female.
In my country, I have voted for a woman candidate twice (1, 2), but they never felt like “DEI hires”. One didn’t have any woke agenda, the other was pro- some woke topics, but she never made them about her. (It was like “this is what I will support if you elect me”, not “this is what I am”.)
Seems to me that Obama had the level of charisma that Hillary did not. (Neither do Biden or Harris). Bill Clinton had charisma, too. (So did Bernie.)
Also, imagine that you had a button that would make everyone magically forget about the race and gender for a moment. I think that the people who voted for Obama would still feel the same, but the people who voted for Hillary would need to think hard about why, and probably their only rationalization would be “so that Trump does not win”.
I am not an American, so my perception of American elections is probably extremely unrepresentative, but it felt like Obama was about “hope” and “change”, while Hillary was about “vote for Her, because she is a woman, so she deserves to be the president”.
I guess there are people (both men and women) who in principle wouldn’t vote for a woman leader. But there are also people who would be happy to give a woman a chance. Not sure which group is larger.
But the wannabe woman leader should not make her campaign about her being a woman. That feels like admitting that she has no other interesting qualities. She needs to project the aura of a competent person who just happens to be female.
In my country, I have voted for a woman candidate twice (1, 2), but they never felt like “DEI hires”. One didn’t have any woke agenda, the other was pro- some woke topics, but she never made them about her. (It was like “this is what I will support if you elect me”, not “this is what I am”.)
I voted for Hillary and wouldn’t need to think hard about why: she’s a democrat, and I generally prefer democrat policies.