We’re at that time of the year when the news cycle is so slow that the press need to make up things to write about. USA Today does its part with “In search of the perfect president: What Americans say they want, from age to gender.”
Americans in the USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll did express preferences about the characteristics they found appealing in a president and the ones they said didn’t matter. In all that may be guideposts and red flags for the real people who will run or are thinking about it.
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How old should the president be?
The sweet spot is later middle age, between 51 and 65 years old, the age group chosen by 50% of those surveyed. An additional 25% picked earlier middle age, 35 to 50 years old.
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Younger voters were more likely to prefer younger presidents. Among those under 35 years old, 41% said their ideal president would be between 35 and 50, the youngest age group eligible for the office.
Is it time for a female president?
Maybe not.
Most voters, a 55% majority, volunteered that gender doesn’t matter. That would be news to Hillary Clinton and other female candidates, who believe they encountered political headwinds because of their sex.
For a significant number of Americans, the Oval Office remains a man’s world. Overall, those who expressed a preference chose a man over a woman as ideal by more than 2-1, 28%-12%.
Among Republicans, 50% said the ideal president would be male while a negligible 2% said she would be female. In contrast, Democrats with a preference chose a woman over a man by 2-1, 24%-11%.
Political independents were the most likely to say gender doesn’t matter. Nearly two-thirds, 63%, volunteered that view.
Is there a gender gap on gender?
Among those voters with a preference, men by 8-1 preferred a male president over a female one, 32%-4%. Women were somewhat more likely to prefer a male president as well, 25%-19%.
The hometown effect: Where are you from?
Most of those surveyed, 57%, said it doesn’t matter where a president is from.
Those who said it does matter were inclined to favor someone from their own part of the country. The regional pull was strongest in the heartland, chosen by 27% of Midwesterners. The East Coast was preferred by 20% of those from the Northeast; the South by 18% of those from the South; the West Coast by 16% of those from the West.
Which party? How about neither?
It’s no surprise that Democratic voters overwhelmingly wanted a Democratic president (71%) and Republican voters overwhelmingly wanted a Republican one (74%).
But there was notable support for a president not affiliated with either major political party. That was the preference not only of two-thirds of independents (67%) but also of 17% of Democrats and 13% of Republicans.
Younger voters were the least tethered to a party. Among those 18 to 35 years old, 31% preferred a Democratic president and 19% a Republican one, but a 41% plurality said their ideal president would be an independent.
Leadership style: Compromise or not?
By double digits, 57% to 34%, Americans want a president who compromises in order to get things done, rather than one who stands on principle no matter what.
But the differences behind the numbers help explain why actually getting things done often has proved to be so difficult in Washington.
By 4-1, 74%-19%, Democrats want a president who will cut a deal. Republicans by 50%-38% prefer a president who stands on principle, even if it means things don’t get done.
That gap on leadership styles was one of the biggest partisan divides in the poll.
Political experience? Yes, but…
Experience in politics was seen as a plus by most voters. Democrats preferred senators over governors, 37%-32%. Republicans, in what may reflect a GOP antipathy for all things Washington, preferred governors over senators by 3-1, 36%-11%.
Among Republicans, there seemed to be some backlash to political experience. One-third, 32%, would prefer someone with no political experience.
Business experience? Yes, but…
There was also a partisan divide on the value of business experience in the perfect president.
Overall, 56% said an ideal president would have a background in business. That included an overwhelming 85% of Republicans.
Among Democrats, however, there seemed to be some backlash to corporate experience. By 55%-29%, they preferred a president with no business background. That may reflect opposition to Trump, the real-estate magnate and reality-TV star who had never run for office until he won the presidency in 2016.
Military experience? Yes, but…
Service in the military was a clear asset among Republicans; 61% said their ideal president would have served in the military. Democratic views were more mixed: 31% favored a president who had served; 37% preferred one who had not. Another 31% volunteered that it didn’t matter one way or the other.
Far and away the most likely winner of the 2024 election will be an almost-82-year-old man from the Mid-Atlantic states with no business or military background but plenty of experience in the Senate and White House. This, despite polling saying 6 in 10 don’t want either him or the other guy to run.
Otherwise, my generic preferences are pretty much in alignment with the plurality of those in the poll.
- I value both youthful vigor and experience, so my sweet spot for President is in their 50s. (That’s where I am now but it’s been my preference for as long as I’ve had an opinion on the matter.)
- I don’t know that I have a strong regional preference
- I don’t know how one can govern under our system without the ability to compromise
- I have no theoretical preference on sex but my other preferences make it far more likely that my preferred candidate will be a man
- I’d prefer someone with substantial Executive experience, preferably a state governor, to someone who spent most of their career in the Congress
- I see some value in business experience but wouldn’t want someone as President without substantial, high-level government experience
- I see military experience as a strong plus but not a necessity
UPDATE: When unsuccessfully looking for an image for the post, I stumbled across this January 2000 essay from then-Whitman College president Thomas E. Cronin.
Most of us yearn for so many talents and qualities in our presidents that it comes close to wanting “God–on a good day.” We want vision, character, competence, intelligence, stamina, inspiration, judgment, wisdom–and we want someone who shares our political beliefs.
When looking for a new president, we also want a leader who can bring us together and bring out the best in us. But this is a tough assignment in a nation shaped by stalwart individualism and irreverence for government and centralized leadership institutions.
We justifiably look at candidates with a close and unforgiving eye, but perhaps we are unfair with pop quizzes, trick questions and denunciation of candidates for doing things we ourselves might have done. It seems we simultaneously want a candidate to be like us and better than us.
My ideal candidate, in addition to sharing my dreams and policy values, of course, would have the following attributes:
Courage. The willingness to take risks and try to serve all the people and not just those who bankrolled his or her candidacy. The intellectual courage to do what is right even when it is not popular of easy. And the guts not to give up after legislative or political defeats.
Experience and competence in bringing people together in teams to solve major policy problems; great skills as a negotiator and builder of policy agreements.
Political savvy. An understanding of the necessity for politics and the ability to be an effective politician working regularly with people of all political views who recognizes that coalition building is a central as well as constant part of the job.
An understanding of history and constitutionalism. A solid grasp of how governments and markets work and how trade and diplomacy operate, and a respect for the U.S. Constitution and the constraints it puts on leadership and government. Helpful, too, would be a sophisticated understanding and respect for the diverse political culture in the United States.
The ability and judgment to recruit wise advisors and effective administrators, and the wisdom to delegate to teams of colleagues. This requires, too, an understanding of the strategic tools for governing and an ability to empower public servants and volunteers at all levels of government.
Listening, learning and teaching skills. A leader has to both listen to us and lead us. We want leaders who give us a sense not only of who they are, but more importantly, of who we are, and what we as a nation might become.
Programmatic ideas and wisdom, and the ability to define plans, clarify options and help set the nation’s policy agenda. A president has to be preoccupied with the large, compelling issues of our day (economic opportunity for everyone, freedom, trade, nuclear proliferation, racism, equality, etc.)–a forest person, not overwhelmed by the trees or leaves. More hedgehog than fox, more wholesaler than retailer, more leader than manager. An ability to establish priorities and stick to them.
Communication and motivational skills. Ideas and wisdom are of little use if a president cannot rally the public and empower teams and constituencies to enact new plans. Having speaking and media conference skills and the ability to inspire and build new political coalitions are crucial.
Tenacity and discipline balanced with humility. Self-confidence and self-esteem are also essential. A thick skin helps in this generally thankless job just as the ability to laugh at oneself and to admit flaws and mistakes. Not wanted are persons who are defensive, rigid, torn by self-doubt or self-pity, or who blame their problems on “enemies” and are likely to punish people on personal “enemies lists.”
Intellectual honesty. We want presidents we can trust, who have a basic respect for others and a commitment to serve the public interest. A sense of decency, integrity and fair play. Honest, ethical leaders motivate us to higher levels of compassion and justice.
Morale-building and community-building skills. The presidency is far more than just a political or constitutional job; it is also an institution and office that has to help us through crises and transitions, and help unify us when we experience national setbacks and tragedy. Presidents at the best help remind us of our mutual obligations, shared beliefs, and the trust and caring that can hold us together in traditions and duty. Most Americans yearn for national leaders who can bring us together and challenge us–and our country–to be better.
Do we ask too much of our presidential candidates? Sure we do. History conditions different cultures to expect different things of their leaders. In the United States we exaggerate the capacity for what even heroic presidents can do to change the course of events. But we aren’t likely to lower our expectations.
Talented politicians are indispensable to making our constitutional democracy work. Two cheers for those who run and for all their helpers and advisors who provide us choices.
Americans will never be satisfied with our candidates, nor perhaps should we be. The ideal presidential candidate is probably a fictional entity, for the dream candidate would be able to please everyone and make conflict disappear. Such a person could exist only in an extremely small community in which liberty and rights (as we understand them) probably wouldn’t exist.
He ends on an optimistic note:
But the love of liberty invites diversity and therefore disagreements of ideology and values. Politicians and presidential candidates as well as the people they represent have different ideas about what is best for the nation.
That’s why we have politics, candidates, debates and elections. Let’s be thankful we do. And while we are at it, we should celebrate that this is our 54th presidential election. We have never postponed one because of wars, depressions, scandals or emergencies.
Alas, the last line is chilling in hindsight:
Let’s celebrate, too, that on 19 occasions we have peacefully transferred power from one party to a different party in our presidential elections. That’s no small achievement.
We made it to 21. The clock reset on January 6, 2021.
