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Would America ever elect a short President?

posted 7 years ago by [deleted]
4 replies | jump to latest

Most American presidents have been tall, and up until George W, the taller candidate always won.

He beat Gore who is taller as well as Kerry who was more taller (albeit in a Lurch kind of way)

The towering Jeb Bush, with party backing, failed miserably in the primaries.

So do people no longer equate height to leadership?

Could America elect a short man? Australia had a prime minister who was only 5’5 from 96 to 2007.

Would that happen stateside?

[–] AlfredTheGreat (471) 7 years ago

The US has so many problems that we need the best person possible for the job.

[–] Fletch (166) 7 years ago

Most people only see the candidates on TV, so I don't think height would matter much unless the relative difference between the candidates was a lot. Gore is 6'1", W. is 5'11". Jeb is 6'4" and Trump is 6'1" (I've read that he is 6'3", but I think that is incorrect). Point being that, in both cases, one of the pair is taller but not by huge margin.

If a candidate was 5'7" (Fletch for President!!!) and were running against a 6'3" candidate, then I think voters would be influenced by it.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

Ross Perot was about 5’5, and got 19% in 92 in a three man race. He mostly took republican votes. Clinton said “I liked the little guy.”

This is a good photo of the height difference at the 92 debate. https://www.stltoday.com/online/president-george-h-w-bush-gov-bill-clinton-ross-perot/article_033bdbf2-c01d-5e14-a9e9-d47160f51686.html

[–] Fletch (166) 7 years ago

He ran as an independent. He could have been 6’5” and he still would have lost by a wide margin because he wasn’t the nominee of either of the two major parties.