On Twitter and in the press, liberals tarred Vice President Mike Pence as a fundamentalist patriarch, better suited for bygone eras of sexual inequality, when it was revealed that he avoids having meals alone with women other than his wife and from attending events without her where alcohol is served.
But a poll released before the holiday pretty much turns that on its head. It’s Pence who’s more in touch with the mainstream, and his detractors who are at the fringes.
A survey of 5,285 registered voters conducted in May by Morning Consult on behalf of the New York Times, probed whether a list of specific behaviors were appropriate to partake in with members of the opposite sex to whom a person is not married.
From the Times report:
Many men and women are wary of a range of one-on-one situations, the poll found. Around a quarter think private work meetings with colleagues of the opposite sex are inappropriate. Nearly two-thirds say people should take extra caution around members of the opposite sex at work. A majority of women, and nearly half of men, say it’s unacceptable to have dinner or drinks alone with someone of the opposite sex other than their spouse.
Fewer than half of women said it was appropriate to drive alone in a car with a man who is not their spouse.
Most men and women agreed it is appropriate to have work meetings with members of the opposite sex, but when it came to drinks and meals, in almost every question more men and women both saw such alone time as inappropriate than appropriate.
And why shouldn’t they? These are reasonable judgements that obviously enjoy mainstream support.
Mollie Hemingway has already argued that in light of these new results, the vicious reaction to Pence’s personal policy is a strong case study in media unfamiliarity with people and culture outside their bubble. I think it’s also true the initial reaction to Pence’s rule exposed their reliance on a lazy and contemptuous stereotypes about Christians. On the Left, Pence is probably most known (and reviled) for his traditional values. Because it was attached to his name, liberals already primed to see him as a sexist were outraged by a rule that reflected reasonable judgments with which most people seem to agree. Detached from Pence, such personal safeguards become much less objectionable.
Why? Maybe because it was never that controversial in the first place.
Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
