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.