LGBTQ and Equality Voters backed Biden against Trump: HRC
Refuting an earlier report, a new poll showed that an overwhelming majority of LGBTQ and Equality Voters supported President-elect Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
The poll was conducted by the LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign (HRC) with polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner (GQR) Research, which showed that 83 percent of LGBTQ voters supported Biden.
Moreover, there were 79 percent of “Equality Voters”– those people that support candidates that are for LGBTQ rights– that voted for Biden.
LGBTQ, Equality voters during the 2020 election
The poll surveyed 1,400 people who voted in the 2020 election, and includes an oversample of voters in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, and Texas.
According to the HRC, 37 percent of “Equality Voters” voted in this year’s elections as compared to 29 percent in 2018.
Alphonso David, HRC president, said their group helped to reach out to these voters. New polling data showed that equality was “a winning issue.”
“We have more equality voters who are engaged in the electoral process this year than any other year, and we are increasing the number of people who label themselves as equality voters,” David said.
“Any narrative that we have seen over the past few weeks suggesting that LGBTQ voters are not really as supportive of Biden as they were in prior years is just simply wrong,” David added.
Turnout of LGBTQ voters during the 2020 election
For the LGBTQ voters, the 83 percent reflects data collected in other post-election poll.
For example, the GLAAD election survey showed 81 percent of LGBTQ voters going for Biden while the AP VoteCast survey showed 73 percent.
Anna Greenberg, managing director of GQR, said inequality issues and the importance of civil protections was bolstered by President Donald Trump’s 2016 election and his policies on LGBTQ issues.
“The irony of Trump is by behaving in the way he has, he sort of created more of a constituency. It’s a diverse coalition, especially when you start looking at people who are under the age of 30,” Greenberg said.
HRC said Trump’s actions has pushed growing support for the Equality Act, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
A recent poll noted that 70 percent of people support the Equality Act, including 50 percent of Trump voters. That is a 5-point increase in support compared to 2018.
Inclusivity important for Equality Voters
The HRC’s poll showed that equality issues– rights for immigrants, people of color, and LGBTQ people– had a big role in Biden’s vote total.
Among those that voted for the president-elect, equality issues ranked second as the most important reason to support Biden with the COVID-19 being the first.
However, equality issues was the top ranked reason why those surveyed voted against Trump.
“When voters went to the ballot box or when they sent in their ballot by mail, they were really thinking about LGBTQ people, people of color, and immigrant groups that have been targeted by Trump,” David said.
“Despite what anti-equality forces would like us to believe, voters are not energized by hatred. They’re energized by inclusiveness. They’re energized by equality,” he added,