Gays Could Win Presidential Election for Barack Obama, Says Gallup Report

President Barack Obama

Guess ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and taking a strong pro-gay marriage stand could help President Barack Obama's re-election effort.

According to the Gallup Report, with the presidential race running so tight, gays' and lesbians' overwhelming support for Obama could help him edge out Republican candidate Mitt Romney.

"When LGBT voters are added to the electorate," a press statement from UCLA's Williams Institute declares, "Obama moves slightly ahead of Romney. These findings suggest that the highly Democratic vote of the LGBT population could be enough to swing a very close election toward Obama."

The Gallup Report was conducted by Williams Institute Distinguished Scholar Gary J. Gates and Gallup Editor-in-chief Frank Newport. Their exhaustive research was based on more than 120,000 interviews of LGBT men and women, the largest such sample ever collected, according to the Williams Institute.

They found that 71 percent of LGBT Americans who are registered voters back the re-election of President Obama. Interestingly, 22 percent of LGBTs support Romney.

That huge pro-Obama percentage, concludes Gates and Newport, may be the extra push the president needs to win the presidential election.

The Gallup Report also points out that LGBTs aren't all bleeding heart liberals.

Forty-five percent of gay individuals consider themselves as "liberal or very liberal."

Twenty percent say they are "conservative or very conservative."

Thirty-five percent think of themselves as "moderate."

"While LGBT voters clearly tilt toward Democratic candidates," Gates says in a press release, "it was clear from the data that the community is not a monolithic political group, and notably, LGBT Americans who express more conservative political preferences share many of the traits common to other Americans with those political views."

During his four years in office, President Barack Obama helped push through and signed legislation that ended "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the ban that disallowed gays from serving openly in the military.

Obama also backed off defending the anti-gay marriage Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in federal court.

And Obama stated publicly that he supports legalized gay marriage.

It's not far-reaching to say that Obama has done more to advance the equality of American gays and lesbians than any other president in the history of the United States. But will they be sure to go out and vote for him on November 6?

Contact Patrick Range McDonald at pmcdonald@laweekly.com.

Tags:

Barack Obama, don't ask don't tell, gay marriage, gay voters, Mitt Romney, Patrick Range McDonald, presidential 2012, Williams Institute

We Recommend

Angellight21

@Scytherius @LAWeekly Gays, Latinos, Blacks, Women, Students, Veterans & all people who love the 100 percent.

friend

i hope it swings the vote. i'm sick and tired of people telling others how they should live their private personal lives. i keep getting told after 6 years widowed that i need to marry again. Why on earth would i want to start training another man again. would it be the extra laundry? the cooking? the dishes? or maybe getting my old body out of bed to privately pass gas. now that being said, how does any of these simple things that are my life have any effect on yours? answer is they don't and neither does my neighbors choice of who to love for now or who they would choose to marry and spend the rest of their life with. all i care about is that they keep their lawn mowed, keep the weeds down, pay the garbage man, don't let their pets use my yard for a bathroom and invite me to a bbq once in a while. as for romney, i am terrified of loosing my ss and my husbands survivors benefits if he wins. we both worked to full retirement for the same company but that company went belly up under bushes watch and our retirements (unknown to us) where in the markets so those are gone. sold the house to pay my husband med bills for a fraction of what it was worth and bankrupted the rest. sold both cars and moved on a bus line because i can't afford insurance if i want electricity. not on foodstamps yet but if medicare is lost then i will have to go there next, provided he doesn't take that too. what a crappy feeling to know that we worked all our life for no reason what so ever.

across the street is a strip mall. every single business is hiring. i can't stand long enough any more to work even a part time job or i would go back to work. as for the younger people that say their aren't jobs out there you are wrong. they are there. they might not be what you want but they will get you by and give you ethic and a resume. bosses like to see that you will do what you have to to be responsible and get your bills paid. however with stories like mine and so many other retired people in th lower 47% why would you even want to build a life when you can't keep it anymore when your old. what really stinks is i can't even afford bingo. i waited so long to be old, grey, incontinent and play bingo. please stick with obama. without him i'd be in a nursing home or a tent. i believe he is doing all he can. remember, it's congress that has blocked his progress. but thats just an old womans opinion and after 79 of them i believe i can give one.

abramsrl topcommenter

In order to impact this election, there needs to be a lot of Gays in Ohio and Wisconsin. What other Gay, other than closet case Mr. Abs, lives in WI? I suppose we Gay Jews could call all our grandparents in Florida and tell them to vote for Obama.

"Nana, please vote for Obama; there's this nice Jewish doctor I want to marry out here in California. We've already adopted a nice Chinese baby girl."