Women are running for Congress in record numbers this year, and most Americans say this is a good thing. But there’s little consensus among the public about how – or whether – things would change if more women were elected, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

Looking beyond 2018, more than four-in-ten Americans say they personally hope a woman will be elected president in their lifetime, but there is some evidence that whether a potential female president is a Republican or a Democrat matters.

About six-in-ten Americans (61%) say it’s a good thing that more women are running for U.S. Congress this year than in the past, while a third say this is neither good nor bad. Just 5% see this as a bad thing.

Women are more likely than men (68% vs. 54%) to view the increased number of female congressional candidates as a positive development, but views are divided even more sharply along partisan lines. Eight-in-ten Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say it’s a good thing that more women are running; about half as many Republicans and Republican leaners (39%) say the same. To be sure, more women are running on the Democratic side than the Republican side.

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