A GLAAD poll released today shows LGBTQ voters favor Joe Biden and Kamala Harris by a wide margin over Trump and Pence.

When, in mid-September, news of a poll indicating that 45 percent of gay men surveyed planned to vote for Donald Trump for president in November, the rainbow-colored shit hit the fan. This time it was the left side of the political spectrum shouting fake news while the right-wingers crowed victoriously.

As it turned out, the poll in question surveyed a very limited audience — gay men on the dating app Hornet.

Today (Thursday, Oct. 1), the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination released results of its own poll that offered vastly different results — 76 percent of LGBTQ respondents said they would vote for Joe Biden, compared to only 17 percent who said they would vote for Trump.

The Hornet poll, according to GLAAD “is not scientific as it allowed participants to self-select and did not include measures to ensure representative samples of the LGBTQ community.”

The GLAAD poll, on the other hand, represents “the results of a survey conducted by Pathfinder Opinion Research from Sept. 21-25, among 800 LGBTQ adults in the United States.”

Interviews were conducted online using a national research panel, and respondents were selected to represent the national LGBT population based on demographic estimates published by the Williams Institute and weighted by gender, age, race, education, and geographic region based on Williams Institute data. The overall credibility interval — a theoretical margin of error for non-probability samples — is ±3.5 percent.

Here are some of the other findings from the GLAAD poll:

  • 88 percent of the LGBTQ people surveyed are registered to vote, compared to 10 percent who are not registered.
  • 57 percent have a favorable opinion of Biden, compared to just 16 percent who have a favorable opinion of Trump.
  • 50 percent have a favorable opinion of Kamala Harris, compared to 13 percent who have a favorable opinion of Vice President Mike Pence.
  • 92 percent said they “definitely/probably” will vote.
  • 81 percent  said they are more motivated to vote in this election compared to previous elections.
  • 53 percent said they have experienced discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, while 47 percent said they have experienced no such discrimination.

According to a Pathfinder Research memo, “In contradiction to unscientific polling released by another entity, this survey shows Biden holding a substantial lead among LGBTQ voters of all sexual orientations and gender identities, including those who identify as gay men.”

Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD’s resident and CEO, said, “We’re seeing a surge in LGBTQ voter registration, because our community understands how much is at stake in this election. We cannot sit this one out; our very lives are on the line.”

GLAAD’s Trump Accountability Project has “tracked more than 175 attacks in policy and rhetoric against LGBTQ people, including fighting all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to deny protections against discrimination at work,” according to a GLAAD press release. The project has also documented the administration’s efforts to keep LGBTQ people from becoming parents and rolled back protections in numerous federal agencies for LGBTQ people seeking health care, education and “a safe place to sleep.” Trump issued an edict banning transgender people from military service early in his tenure and his administration has fought at every turn since then to keep that ban in place, despite court rulings on every level.

Citing 2018 exit poll data estimating that 6 percent of the electorate was LGBTQ and Williams Institute data released in November 2019 indicating that one in five LGBTQ Americans is not registered to vote, GLAAD has focused its efforts over the past year on “closing the registration gap and improving participation numbers,” the organization said in a press release announcing the polling information. “And [these] poll results indicate an increase in LGBTQ voter registration.”
Monday, Oct. 5, is the deadline in Texas to register to vote in the Nov.3 election. Volunteers will be stationed a the Crossroads (Cedar Springs Road at Throckmorton) and in the Bishop Arts District from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday this weekend.

— Tammye Nash