President Barack Obama received an
overwhelming majority of the gay vote.
According to research conducted by Gary
J. Gates of the Williams Institute at the U.C.L.A. School of law in
conjunction with Gallup, straight voters were evenly split between
Obama and his Republican rival, Mitt Romney; each received 49 percent
from the group. However, a large majority (76%) of voters who
identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual voted for Obama, while 22
percent supported Romney.
Romney received a smaller share of the
gay vote than did Arizona Senator John McCain in 2008. Exit polls
showed McCain garnered 27 percent of the gay vote.
Obama is the first sitting president to
endorse gay marriage. He also pushed for repeal of “Don't Ask,
Don't Tell.”
The Obama Campaign touted these
achievements and others throughout the campaign, particularly in
messages aimed at younger voters, who tend to support gay rights in
greater numbers.
One video from the campaign went so far
as to ask
young people to not forget their gay friends on Election Day.
“What are you going to tell them?”
a male narrator is heard asking over images of young people having
fun. “You didn't think it mattered? Is that what you're going to
tell your friends who can't get married?”
R. Clarke Cooper, the executive
director of the Log Cabin Republicans, a group which represents gay
Republicans and endorsed Romney for president, told The
New York Times that the GOP appears reluctant to embrace such
issues.
Republicans in Congress “will tell me
behind closed doors that this is the direction we need to go as a
party, but publicly they're not doing that,” he said.