NEW YORK — In it’s post-election poll, GLAAD found that LGBTQ people overwhelmingly voted for President-elect Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
The organizations announced their findings in a blog post on Friday, Nov. 20.
The poll, conducted Nov. 9-14 with 800 LGBTQ respondents by Pathfinder Opinion Research, found that 93% of respondents who reported being LGBTQ registered voters said they voted this year. 25% voted for the first time.
Among all LGBTQ voters, 81% voted for Biden and 14% for Trump. Among first-time LGBTQ voters, 86% voted for Biden, 10% for Trump.
GLAAD’s poll shows significantly stronger LGBTQ support for Biden, and significantly weaker support for Trump, than exit polls conducted by Edison Research for the National Election Poll. Edison’s data, widely reported after Election Day, found Trump received 27% of the LGBT vote. However, the reported sample size was approximately 250 LGBT respondents, with a margin of error of 7%. GLAAD’s poll sample size was 800 respondents. For this survey, the overall credibility interval is 3.5%. The credibility interval for subgroups would be larger. The Edison exit poll data was collected in person on Election Day as well with early voters over the phone, a nontraditional combination of collection methods due to the pandemic and to account for mail-in voting.
According to the poll, the top issues for LGBTQ voters were:
- COVID-19 response: 54%
- Healthcare: 25%
- Racial Justice: 22%
- LGBTQ equality: 21%
- Jobs & economy: 18%
- Environment/climate change: 16%
Among LGBTQ adults, 78% rated Biden “excellent or good” in addressing LGBTQ issues during the campaign. 80% rated Trump “not so good or poor” in addressing LGBTQ issues during the campaign. Also, 59% of LGBTQ voters said they didn’t see election-related news coverage of LGBTQ issues during the Presidential campaign.
“GLAAD’s poll confirms the impact of the LGBTQ vote as a deciding difference in the 2020 election, especially first-time LGBTQ voters who led a powerful surge of support for the pro-equality ticket,” said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis.
While the poll did find that queer voters were feeling more optimistic after the election, they still had concerns of possible rollbacks in the courts:
- 80% concerned about LGBTQ employment protections
- 80% concerned about transgender protections
- 77% concerned marriage equality will be overturned
- 74% concerned Roe vs. Wade will be overturned
- 73% concerned the Affordable Care Act will be overturned
- 83% of LGBTQ voters in GLAAD’S 2020 poll said it was very/somewhat important to have an LGBTQ justice nominated to the Supreme Court.
The poll showed how engaged the LGBTQ community is in the voting process. It found that 88% of LGBTQ Americans were registered to vote and of those, 93% voted in this year’s election.
