LGBT voting strongly supported Democrats: exit polls
An exit poll has shown that LGBT voting was not only strong during the last elections, they supported mainly candidates for the Democratic Party.
LGBT voting: A “powerful” bloc
The poll– which was conducted by media outlets CNN, NBC News, the Wall Street Journal– showed that LGBT voters comprised six percent of the total number of voters that showed up on election day.
This was an increase from previous elections, an estimated five percent that identified in exit polls as LGBT.
Chad Griffin, president of the LGBT advocate group Human Rights Campaign, said they had asked media outlets to include this question to assess the size of LGBT voters as a bloc.
“Once we know what the total voters are, that is likely to be around seven million voters identified as LGBT,” Griffin said.
“What’s important to note: That means six percent of the electorate identified to a stranger– in most cases in a swing state that they were LGBT,” he pointed out.
He added, “That is a powerful voting bloc, and that is an increase in turnout of LGBT voters from 2016.”
LGBT Voting: The “Blue Wave”
The same poll noted that the voters who identified as LGBT also mainly supported the Democratic Party in the last elections.
Exit polling from CNN and NBC News, which based their on data from the National Election Pool, reported 82 percent of LGBT people voted a Democratic representative as against 17 percent that voted for a Republican.
However, the exit poll of Wall Street Journal showed less support for the Democratic Party among LGBT people with 71 percent for Democrats as against 24 percent for Republicans.
During the 2016 presidential elections, 76 percent of LGBT identified voters backed Hillary Clinton as against 14 percent that supported President Donald Trump.
In 2012, 77 percent of LGB-identified voters voted for President Barack Obama as compared to 23 that went for Mitt Romney.
Reasons why behind the LGBT vote
It’s no surprise that majority of the LGBT voters would support the Democratic Party as opposed to the Trump-led Republican Party with their anti-LGBT policies.
“Decreased social stigma likely explains recent increases in the portion of the population identifying as LGBT,” said Gary Gates, a former research fellow at the Williams Institute at the University of California in Los Angeles.
“Further, LGBT voters may feel particularly under threat from a Trump administration that has shown open hostility toward the transgender population and has made several attempts to minimize the visibility of LGBT populations in federal data sources,” Gates said.
Moreover, Gates pointed out another demographic pattern: younger women who are likely to support Democratic candidates are comprising an increasing portion of people who openly identify themselves as LGBT.