2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Lets face it, most of the hate for Hillary is because she is a strong, intelligent woman........ [View all]Moonwalk
(2,322 posts)...and be liked. I really think, in regards to RW's, that it's less about gender than intelligence. They hate any politician who strikes them as "smart." They want a politician who strikes them as an "Everyman." That person they can invite to the barbecue. Consider that they had no problem at all with Palin, and some even wanted her to be president instead. She was wife, mother (of a big family) beauty queen, a Christian, a non-reader, a gun lover, an all-American pioneering woman who didn't get no higher education.
THAT sort of woman as president is perfectly fine for most republican voters. But a woman who got her degree, who has traveled the world engaging in deplomacy, who believes in science over the bible? No. THAT is a woman who is "over-reaching" herself. Ditto with minorities. Ben Carson, for all that he is a brain surgeon, was well liked among Republicans. Why? Because he believed in bible over science. He struck them as "average" not "smart."
A lot of voters, especially independents and republicans, don't like anyone who seems too smart.