To the Editor:

Re “Are We Ready to Elect a Woman President?,” by Michelle Cottle (Editorial Observer, Jan. 16):

Of course a woman can be elected president. If some 40,000 Trump voters in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania had voted for Hillary Clinton, she would have added an Electoral College victory to her three-million-vote popular victory.

The more immediate question for Democratic voters is: “If we nominate a woman this year, are we less likely to beat Trump?” The answer is, probably. Sexist attitudes about women candidates cost them votes, and this is most true for president, since some voters have trouble envisioning a woman in the commander in chief role.

Amy Klobuchar or Elizabeth Warren might have qualities that offset that inherent disadvantage, but it’s legitimate for Democratic voters to ask if that’s a risk that they want to take.

Ms. Warren’s debate statement that she and Ms. Klobuchar are undefeated, but the male candidates have collectively lost 10 elections, says nothing about the eventual nominee’s prospects this year. The two women have won their races in solidly blue states.