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You are here: Home / Political Strategy / Here’s What Really Matters for ‘Electability’

Here’s What Really Matters for ‘Electability’

September 21, 2026 at 8:48 am ET By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Voters are perfectly fine supporting candidates who aren’t white men,” Politico reports.

“But they do show small preferences for candidates who are younger and Christian, according to new results from The Politico Poll. And voters were most likely to penalize transgender candidates in hypothetical matchups, though Democrats were more likely to support them than GOP voters were.”

“The results cast a new light on a simmering, yearslong public conversation within both parties about what it means to be electable and whether putting forward candidates of varying backgrounds is too politically risky in a close election environment.”

Filed Under: Political Strategy, Polling

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About Political Wire

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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