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Is America really ready to elect a woman president?

strongly suggest yes. By 1999, Gallup found that 92 percent of Americans were willing to vote for a well-qualified woman for president.听

But the reality may be far more complicated. In suburban Pittsburgh this week, a focus group of 11 blue-collar, economically struggling voters demonstrated just how deep Hillary Clinton鈥檚 challenge may be.

鈥淚鈥檓 going to set women back, but I don鈥檛 think women and men are equal,鈥� said Danyale, a 40-something black woman. 鈥淎nd I like Hillary, I鈥檓 a big supporter of hers. But I don鈥檛 think she can run the country.鈥�

Why? Danyale was asked. 鈥淏ecause she鈥檚 a woman,鈥� the homemaker responded. 鈥淎nd even though everybody says equality and this and that, she鈥檚 going to be challenged鈥�. Her womanhood鈥檚 going to be put on a plateau, and they鈥檙e going attack her.鈥�

Moderator Peter Hart knew he was onto something. Leave aside that it鈥檚 Mrs. Clinton, he said, but hold onto the idea that a woman president is 鈥渃oncerning.鈥� Anybody else agree? he asked. Six hands went up, including Danyale鈥檚. That鈥檚 a majority of the group.

鈥淎cross the board in other countries it鈥檚 a male arena of leaders, and I just think they鈥檙e going to be so much up against her for that,鈥� said Dara, a 40-year-old Trump supporter.

Fred, a black, middle-aged Clinton supporter who works as a security guard, said he thinks it鈥檚 time for a female president, 鈥渂ecause we just broke the waters with our first African American president.鈥�

Then came the 鈥渂ut.鈥�

He鈥檚 most worried about 鈥渉er emotions,鈥� Fred said, 鈥渂ecause she鈥檚 going to be attacked.鈥� Though he added that he thought Clinton could withstand the pressure.

Another in the group, a 30-something homemaker named Megan, suggested that gender could be a distraction. 鈥淚 feel that if she gets in, larger issues will go unnoticed due simply to the attention to something that she can鈥檛 change,鈥� said Megan, a Trump supporter.

Nobody accused Clinton of playing the 鈥渨oman card,鈥� as Trump did recently. But the reservations about her gender in that focus group certainly suggest that Trump may not have been completely off base in trying to turn her gender into a negative.

Focus groups, of course, aren鈥檛 scientific. But they can provide clues to what voters are thinking in a way that dry opinion polls can鈥檛. For Trump, in particular, working-class voters from Pennsylvania may be central to his chances in November.

The state is heavy on older, white voters without college degrees, Trump鈥檚 鈥渂ase,鈥� and early analysis of the race suggests Trump will need to win such voters by big margins to offset Clinton's advantages among minorities and college-educated voters and women.

Though Pennsylvania has gone Democratic in every presidential race since 1992, the state has been drifting rightward in recent years, driven by the economically challenged, rust-belt, western part of the state. In fact, analysts say, Pennsylvania could be the .听

So it is that suburban Pittsburgh, in western Pennsylvania, proved to be the location of choice for the focus group organized by Hart Research on behalf of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Reporters were invited to watch, either in person or via video uplink.

Going in, the group (six women, five men) was fairly evenly split: six for Trump, four for Clinton, and one for the Libertarian Gary Johnson.

With the Trump supporters, it quickly became clear that much of what consumes inside-the-Beltway chatter was of little concern. The group didn鈥檛 care that Trump had yet to release his tax returns. And the fact that he says things that are questionable, or downright false, also didn鈥檛 seem to bother his supporters.

In fact, one of the qualities that group members praised was Trump鈥檚 鈥渉onesty.鈥� Though it became clear that 鈥渉onesty鈥� was more likely a stand-in for 鈥渁uthenticity鈥� than a penchant for saying things that are factually true.听

鈥淲hen you ask him a question, a lot of politicians would dodge; Trump will just answer,鈥� says Richard, a middle-aged lab technician. 鈥淎nd everybody hammers him for it, but at least he answered the question.鈥�

Mr. Hart turns to a young Clinton supporter in the group named Sarah and asks for her reaction.

鈥淚鈥檓 afraid,鈥� she says. 鈥淒on鈥檛 attack me, but I think that he鈥檚 honest in the way a child is honest, because they don鈥檛 know any better.鈥�

Raymond, a Trump supporter, nods in agreement. Then he turns the criticism of Trump into a positive.

鈥淚n a lot of ways he is childish, because he鈥檚 not a politician,鈥� says Raymond, a middle-aged home remodeler. 鈥淗e鈥檚 treating this running as a takeover of a company.... He鈥檚 going to make mistakes and will be able to overcome them, where I don鈥檛 think Hillary will.鈥�

Even some Clinton supporters spoke positively about aspects of Trump鈥檚 candidacy: Brian, a limo driver, calls Trump 鈥渦p front鈥� and 鈥渉onest about what he has to say, because he doesn鈥檛 care.鈥� Danyale likes Trump鈥檚 plan to deport the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US. She also likes his call to ban noncitizen Muslims from entering the country, as does Fred.

By the end of the two-hour session, the group had shifted in a more pro-Trump direction. Danyale, who at first said that Trump 鈥渒ind of comes off to me like a racist,鈥� said she was now 50-50 between Trump and Clinton. Brian, who started out as 鈥減robably Clinton,鈥� was also now evenly divided. When asked to explain why, he suggested that he had been swayed by the group. Chris, a young father who started out praising Mr. Johnson, the Libertarian, also upped his score for Trump.

鈥淕roup think鈥� can certainly set in in these sessions. Sarah, the only Clinton supporter who put her chances of voting for Trump at zero, was also the only one to defend the Affordable Care Act.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think [Trump] understands what it鈥檚 like to be on the opposite side of that lavish lifestyle,鈥� says Sarah, a struggling young web designer and the only one in the group with a four-year college degree. 鈥淪o when he says the first thing he鈥檚 going to do when he takes office is get rid of Obamacare, that scares me.鈥�

Sarah also wasn鈥檛 completely sold on Clinton. Most of the Trump supporters, too, had some ambivalence toward him. In fact, eight of the 11 participants wish someone else would get into the race.

But if Trump and Clinton had been able to watch this focus group, there鈥檚 no doubt who would have been the happier spectator.