The climate crisis is tops with him. Buttigieg has it on his list, but it isn’t tops.

It’s just the survival of this planet and all the life forms on it. No biggie...

On edit - we may have to wait longer than the 2020 election for “the gay” not to be off-putting to large segments of the electorate. More young people (millennials) have to age a little more, and the generation after them (the teens out protesting inaction on the climate crisis) has to move up - into and beyond voting age. These younger folks aren’t hampered by the prejudices and gay-hatred that older voters still have. And as the elders AND their hang-ups die off, I think the younger generations moving in and taking over will bring in their non-judgmentalism and lack of prejudice into power and the majority of the electorate with them.

I’ve watched with great interest how the younger they are, the less they’re hung up about skin color or sex. I think that’s because more families have seen their members come out, or marry someone of a different race or background, or they have friends in school or with whom they grew up who don’t look like them (or date like them).

And THOSE are the ones who will reach adulthood and start taking over in leadership positions - in business, government, and other parts of daily life, and THEY will be the ones shaping public opinion. And they so far show themselves to be much more inclusive and less judgmental or prejudiced, generally speaking. Yes, there are pockets of continued weirdness and bullshittery and Neanderthal thinking. But that seems, to me, to be increasingly in the minority.

Meanwhile, Buttigieg is YOUNG! He’s still young enough to be a viable presidential candidate in a few more election cycles, when a more liberal and tolerant mindset becomes dominant, and only a few old rigid-thinking Bible-thumpers remain viable and able to shuffle into the voting booth.

Just my opinion, but one thing that’s long been fascinating to me is demographic studies.