Is it okay to vote for a candidate based purely on their demographic status?

[useful idiot]

People tend to latch onto something about a politician that they can identify with. In the case of voting for someone of your own "demographic status", I think it's not unreasonable if the candidates aren't that far apart on the issues. A Muslim votes for a Muslim because they feel that they identify with that person's values. A black person assumes that a fellow black person knows a bit about what it's like to be them, and will be more sympathetic to their views and values.

On the other hand, voting for someone not of your group, because it would be the first person of their status to be elected to that office, is silly. Depends on what we're defining as "okay" though...