Gay voters could possibly determine the
November 6 presidential race.
According to a Gallup Report survey,
the LGBT community's strong support for President Barack Obama could
help the president edge out a win in the popular vote.
The report found that 71 percent of
LGBT Americans who are registered voters support Obama, while 22
percent prefer his GOP rival, Mitt Romney.
With the demographic, Obama leads 47 to
45 percent. But factor out the gay vote and Romney is favored 47 to
46 percent.
The analysis was conducted by the
Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles
School of Law.
“These findings suggest that the
highly Democratic vote of the LGBT population could be enough to
swing a very close election toward Obama,” wrote
co-authors Gary J. Gates and Frank Newport.
Other findings include: 20 percent of
LGBT Americans describe themselves as either conservative or very
conservative, 74 percent say they are registered or plan to register
to vote – roughly 6 percent lower than heterosexuals – and a
large share (68%) approve of the way Obama is doing his job as
president.