October 20, 2019 - Americans’ Gender Beliefs and Perceptions Revealed in New PRRI Survey

A survey conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute finds that 20% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say they think it would be better to nominate a man as the Democratic nominee to run against Trump in 2020, while 12% say it would be better to nominate a woman. However, 68% say the gender of the nominee does not matter. Partisan differences, consistent with previous surveys, emerge in questions asking if respondents agree that “men are being punished just for being men” and that “society has become too soft and feminine.” 53% of Republicans think men are punished just for being men and 65% of Republicans agree that society as a whole has become too soft and feminine; in contrast, 23% of Democrats think men are punished just for being men and 26% of Democrats agree that society as a whole has become too soft and feminine.