Skip to content

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

        Jessica Kutz · May 5
      • Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito argued abortion isn’t an economic issue. But is that true?

        Chabeli Carrazana · May 4
      • Pregnant people are at 'greater risk' in states hit hard by wildfire smoke, air pollution, new report shows

        Jessica Kutz · April 20
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s swearing in makes history during unprecedented time for the Supreme Court

        Candice Norwood · June 30
      • Biden’s new environmental justice office aims to tackle the health impacts disproportionately faced by people of color

        Jessica Kutz · June 2
      • Jessica Cisneros takes on the last anti-abortion U.S. House Democrat

        Amanda Becker · February 25
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
      • Few incarcerated women were released during COVID. The ones who remain have struggled.

        Candice Norwood · August 17
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: How pregnant people can prepare for a summer of heat waves

        Jessica Kutz · June 17
      • The 19th Explains: How new Title IX guidelines on sexual misconduct may give more help to survivors

        Nadra Nittle · June 14
      • The 19th Explains: How would overturning Roe v. Wade affect IVF?

        Jennifer Gerson · May 27
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • Stepping in after tragedy: How political wives became widow lawmakers

        Mariel Padilla · May 24
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • 'I'm planning on working until the day I die': Older women voters are worried about the future

        Mariel Padilla · June 3
      • Climate change is forcing care workers to act as first responders

        Jessica Kutz · May 31
      • Woman alleges that an assisted living facility denied her admission because she is transgender

        Sara Luterman · November 8
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Florida’s redistricting fight continues. The head of the state League of Women Voters talks about what’s at stake.

        Barbara Rodriguez · April 19
      • Women have been sounding the alarm ahead of Texas’ first-in-the-nation primary

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 28
      • LGBTQ+ people of color are at risk from rising voter restrictions as federal protections falter in the Senate, advocates say

        Orion Rummler · January 19

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Elections 2022
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Politics
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

Support The 19th

As a nonprofit newsroom, members are critical to our sustainability. Your financial support helps make our journalism possible.

Become a Member

Donate to support our mission

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

A close up photo of Joe Biden speaking into a microphone.
(Photo by Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto)

Election 2020

LGBTQ+ people and ‘equality voters’ overwhelmingly supported Joe Biden in election, poll finds

The new poll also shows equality issues — standing up for immigrants, people of color and LGBTQ+ people — played a large role in turnout for the president-elect.

Barbara Rodriguez

State Politics and Voting Reporter

Barbara Rodriguez portrait

Published

2020-12-21 14:55
2:55
December 21, 2020
pm

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

An overwhelming majority of LGBTQ+ people and voters who support them cast their vote for President-elect Joe Biden in the 2020 election, according to a new poll.

The poll, released by polling firm GQR and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), shows 83 percent of LGBTQ+ voters supported Biden and 79 percent of “equality voters” — people who support candidates who are supportive of LGBTQ+ rights and will vote against candidates who aren’t — backed the president-elect.

HRC data shows 29 percent of equality voters voted in 2018. That number increased to 37 percent in this year’s election, according to HRC.

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Alphonso David, president of HRC, credited the outreach fieldwork that his group — the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization — did to turn out equality voters. He said the new polling data shows “equality is a winning issue.”

“The majority of people support equality. 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,” he said.

The poll represents a survey of 1,400 people who voted in the 2020 election, including an oversample of voters in Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Texas.

The 83 percent turnout for LGBTQ+ voters reflects data collected in other post-election polls. A GLAAD election survey of LGBTQ+ voters showed 81 percent support for Biden. An AP VoteCast survey showed Biden winning 73 percent of the LGBTQ+ vote.

“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 said.

Anna Greenberg, managing director of GQR, said President Donald Trump’s 2016 election and subsequent policies on LGBTQ+ issues — HRC has tracked how those policies have hurt members of the community — further elevated inequality issues and the importance of civil protections. That has meant growing support for the Equality Act, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. According to the latest poll, 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.

“The irony of Trump is by behaving in the way he has, he sort of created more of a constituency,” she said. “It’s a diverse coalition, especially when you start looking at people who are under the age of 30. You may not feel the effects in the next six months, but certainly in the next five to 10 years, as millennials become a bigger share of the electorate, I think you’re going to see more and more pressure for policy change around this.”

HRC has made passage of the Equality Act its number-one legislative priority in the new year. Biden has vowed to pass the Equality Act within his first 100 days in office.

“Otherwise we’re living in a country where there’s a patchwork of legal protections,” David said.

The poll also shows that equality issues, such as rights for immigrants, people of color and LGBTQ+ people, played a large role in the president-elect’s vote total. Among Biden voters in the poll, equality issues ranked second as the most important reason to support him. The first was coronavirus.

But equality issues ranked as the top reason that poll respondents 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.

It was a record-shattering year for LGBTQ+ candidates running and winning political office, including transgender lawmakers nearly doubling in statehouses around the country. But groups like Victory Fund also noted a “dramatic increase” in homophobic and transphobic attacks against some of those candidates.

David said the new polling data shows there’s no place for those attacks in politics.

“Despite what anti-equality forces would like us to believe, voters are not energized by hatred,” David said. “They’re energized by inclusiveness. They’re energized by equality. They’re energized by people who will be standing up for all of us, not just some of us.” 

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Support The 19th

As a nonprofit newsroom, members are critical to our sustainability. Your financial support helps make our journalism possible.

Become a Member

Donate to support our mission

Up Next

A photo composite of a group playing football.

LGBTQ+

LGBTQ+ people know the secret to celebrating the holidays away from family

Queer people, often rejected by their families, are adept at making new holiday traditions as the pandemic forces us apart.

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Subscribe to the Newsletter
  • Attend an Event
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram