Above: Protest at the White House over Trump’s transgender military ban. (Photo by Ted Eytan, CC license 2.0)
Despite four years of attacks on LGBTQ rights by the Trump administration Trump managed to double his support among LGBTQ voters.
The president netted 28 percent of the LGBTQ vote, up from 14 percent when he faced off against Hillary Clinton, according to a preliminary exit poll conducted by Edison Research for the National Election Pool, published by The New York Times.*
Joe Biden still managed to gain the vast majority of LGBTQ votes, with 61 percent of those self-identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender saying they cast their ballot for the former vice president, compared to 78 percent of the LGBTQ vote that went to Clinton in 2016.
Trump’s percentage of votes among other key demographics of gender and race remained largely unchanged, rising and falling by four percentage points or less in each case.
The Trump re-election team reached out to the LGBTQ community this year as part of its overall get out the vote ground game, launching a Trump Pride coalition, which is the first LGBTQ coalition formed by a Republican presidential candidate. The group hit the road in a number of swing states, like North Carolina, Michigan, Florida, and Pennsylvania, to try and sell Trump as pro-LGBTQ in spite of his record. Those events featured a rotating roster of speakers, including Trump’s daughter Tiffany Trump, his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, and former Ambassador to Germany and Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell.
Great crowd in Pittsburgh for Trump Pride. #maga https://t.co/i1AySKuNtq 壯陽藥
m”>pic.twitter.com/18Gke50jlm— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) November 2, 2020
They had their work cut out for them, as the president’s record is less than stellar in this area, but the exit polling numbers suggest their efforts might have had some effect.
Trump’s record on LGBTQ rights includes opposing the Equality Act, which would add protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity to existing civil rights law, arguing in favor of allowing employers to fire workers based on their LGBTQ status, imposing a transgender military ban, halting HIV research over the use of fetal tissue, rolling back Obama-era protections for trans inmates and students, and stacking the courts with judges with anti-LGBTQ records, including recently seated Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Record High LGBTQ Voter Turnout
Not only did the 2020 election see record overall turnout, the LGBTQ vote also turned out in higher numbers, making up 7 percent of the total vote according to the poll.
LGBTQ voters made up 6 percent of the total electorate in the midterm elections two years ago and just 5 percent in 2016.
Trump is currently trailing Biden, with his re-election chances growing dimmer. There are five states left to be called at time of writing, with Arizona and Nevada both likely Biden wins, which would hand the election to Biden. He is also now leading in Pennsylvania and Georgia. If he wins he will have LGBTQ voters to thank in no small part, but perhaps not by as large a margin as many would have guessed.
*15,590 voters were polled at time of writing, with a notice that the numbers would be updated as more data becomes available. In 2016 Edison Research polled 24,537 voters leaving 350 voting places throughout the country on Election Day including 4,398 telephone interviews with early and absentee voters.