Would you vote for a Presidential candidate who is single?

[Tonio]

Leaving aside the question of gender or sexual orientation, how would you feel about a President who is unmarried, no matter what the reason? Would it make a difference if he or she was widowed or divorced versus never married?

[vraiblonde]

I think that if a guy gets to be a certain age and he STILL can't find a mate, there's a problem. Put me down for "married Presidents".

[sleuth]

To me it depends on whether he's living the "single lifestyle". I wouldn't want drunken partying in the DC nightlife to interfere with his job as president.

As for marital status? Here's my take.

Single, never been married: I'll take a close look at his lifestyle, as I mentioned above.

Single, divorced: I want to know why he's divorced, and whether it was a result of his own character deficiencies (i.e. did he cheat? did he abandon his family? etc.)

Single, widower: No qualms about voting for this guy. He's been punished enough.

[Warron]

Originally posted by vraiblonde
I think that if a guy gets to be a certain age and he STILL can't find a mate, there's a problem. Put me down for "married Presidents".

You realize that over 50% of the adult population in this country are not married? And the numbers are only going up.

[Dymphna]

Originally posted by Warron
You realize that over 50% of the adult population in this country are not married? And the numbers are only going up.

Yeah, but we are talking about men over 35. Your stats define "adult" as 18.

[Dymphna]

Originally posted by sleuth
To me it depends on whether he's living the "single lifestyle". I wouldn't want drunken partying in the DC nightlife to interfere with his job as president.

As for marital status? Here's my take.

Single, never been married: I'll take a close look at his lifestyle, as I mentioned above.

Single, divorced: I want to know why he's divorced, and whether it was a result of his own character deficiencies (i.e. did he cheat? did he abandon his family? etc.)

Single, widower: No qualms about voting for this guy. He's been punished enough.

Only I would add that a widower who claims not to have remarried because he is devoted to his children and/or hasn't found a relationship to replace his wife to whom he was devoted would get brownie points over the widower who remarried mere months after his wife's passing.

[Toxick]

... Don't care.


I don't see marriage, or lack thereof as a reflection of character. I got married much later than all of my friends. I don't think I'm less of a person or less of a man for it.

I have never made it a priority to be married. My priorities have always included being happy with myself, by being happy with my career, having stuff, etc.

Now that I am married with children, they obviously rate much higher on my priorities than career and the accumulation of toys - but before I had a family, I wasn't actively seeking one. I happened to choose a lifestyle where it wasn't at odds with finding a mate and raising a family.

If I had gone into politics, and working 24-7, I doubt I'd have very much time to make a decent family, and ensure that everyone's happy. But I still don't think I'd be less of a person for it, and I wouldn't tend to think less of someone else for it.


So, it doesn't matter to me.

[Vince]

Nothing wrong with a single guy as president, but his lifestyle would definitely be looked at. A married man would tend to look at family issues differently and probably with a better understanding seeing as he's been there.

[SmallTown]

No problems. If anything, I would have to say he/she is one of the smart ones!

[crabcake]

I'm not voting on a personals ad ... I'm voting for a president. I don't give a rats azz if he sits at home every night after playing "Big Man" and spanks his monkey or if he snuggles next to a person or a pillow at night -- CAN HE PERFORM THE DUTIES OF THE JOB?

Preferring a married president, IMO, is no different that having other preferences for folks when hiring them -- like race, religion, sex, child status, etc.