A new poll out Friday finds Democratic
LGBT primary voters are most likely to back Vermont Senator Bernie
Sanders for president.
According to the latest Morning
Consult poll, 34 percent of LGBT primary voters say Sanders is
their first-choice candidate.
Rounding out the top five are
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (19%), former Vice President
Joe Biden (18%), former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg
(12%), and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (7%).
Pollsters found that 12 percent of
likely primary or caucus voters identify as LGBT.
Sanders is an LGBT ally. While serving
in the U.S. House, he opposed passage of the Defense of Marriage Act
(DOMA), which prohibited the federal government from recognizing the
legal marriages of gay and lesbian couples, and “Don't Ask, Don't
Tell,” which forced gay troops to remain silent about their sexual
orientation or risk being drummed out of the military.
While Buttigieg, who is gay, ranked
fourth in the poll, LGBT voters make up 21 percent of his supporters,
higher than any other Democratic presidential candidate. Nineteen
percent of Sanders' supporters identify as LGBT.