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November 07, 2008

27% of Gay Voters Sided With McCain

The Election Day exit poll conducted for the major television networks shows that 27% of gay voters supported Sen. John McCain in his losing bid for the White House. According to the Log Cabin Republicans, this is the largest show of support ever for a Republican nominee. In 2004, 23% of gay voters went for President Bush.

According to the poll, conducted every presidential election by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International, 4% of this year's electorate self-identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, the same percentage as in 2004. President-elect Barack Obama won the support of 70% of them, down from the 77% garnered by Sen. John Kerry four years ago, while 3% opted for a third-party candidate or did not give an answer when asked whom they voted for. (The Advocate)

Keywords: 2008 Election

Related stories from Advocate.com

2008-12-11: Obama to Name Out L.A. Deputy Mayor to Environmental Post
2008-12-09: LGBT Leaders Voice Concerns Over Lack of Openly Gay Appointees
2008-12-02: Wanda Sykes, Thomas Beatie Kick Off Advocate's People of the Year
2008-11-21: Democratic Supermajority No Guarantee for Gay Progress
2008-11-21: From the Great White Way to the White House

Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

Name: JimB
Date posted: 2008-11-11 10:16 AM
Hometown: Central IL

Comment:

Comments like Mike Staley’s (Ind) are from the kind of person that would throw their own brother under a bus if it meant that it would save them a hit on their wallet. In the world that he lives in, “sensible fiscal conservatives” translates into “hands off, it’s MINE & everyone else be damned.” People like Mike can’t see beyond their own bank accts. If the money they pay in taxes doesn’t directly benefit them, then they want nothing to do with it. Dem’s don’t offer Mike (and his ilk) anything he wants because Dem’s care more about the greater community than individual greed. “Gay rights are dead” for Mike because his situation doesn’t require any that he needs. If he doesn’t immediately benefit then he doesn’t care. He can’t see an inch past his Prada shoes and consider that their may come a day when he may need the equality that many are fighting for on his behalf. His can’t see that what he has can be eroded into something that could hit his wallet and his lifestyle.

Name: Austin Kim
Date posted: 2008-11-07 4:49 PM
Hometown: Richmond, VA

Comment:

"4% of this year's electorate self-identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, the same percentage as in 2004." I know this is way off-topic, but for some reason I was struck by this 4% statistic, which somehow I had never encountered before. If you step back for a minute and think about it, that's pretty amazing. 4% out of a population of 305.6 million works out to more than 12.2 million people. That's more than most countries have total citizens. That's more than twelve million people who are variously prohibited by law from marrying, adopting children, visiting loved ones in the hospital, and proudly serving their country in uniform; and that's in America, the putative leader of the world in terms of justice, freedom, and equality, the country founded on a creed of inalienable rights and established on the promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Name: Ben B.
Date posted: 2008-11-07 2:52 PM
Hometown: Columbia, SC

Comment:

Barack Obama is not going to grant us marriage rights from on high. Why should he? The vast majority of gay people are going to vote Democratic no matter what. As long as the Democrats are allowed to take the gay vote for granted, they don't have to do jack squat for us. Meanwhile, each year, Log Cabin works to get gay-friendly republicans elected to Congress. Each year, we are more and more successful. Hell, John McCain was not the favored candidate for the theocratic conservatives. John McCain was the most gay-friendly Republican Presidential candidate ever other than Giuliani. That's why he got nearly a 1/3 of the gay vote. The GLBT movement has worshipped the Democrats for years, and it got us DOMA and DADT. Meanwhile, those of us on the other side have been showing the Democrats that they're going to have to work much harder if they want our votes.

Name: Andrew
Date posted: 2008-11-07 12:13 PM
Hometown: Houston

Comment:

Just as some ethnic minorities do not support gay rights, some white gays would never vote for a (self-identified) black man as President or simply put (self-)interest ahead of their civil rights. It is hard to fathom how minorities of all types (be they ethnic, national, sexual or physical) cannot see that their interests are best served through unity, while ignoring difference. Surely, civil rights for all minorities is in the best interest of each of them individually. If I’ve learned anything as I get older, it is that humanity is infinitely more complicated, self-contradictory, and irrational than a simple appeal to our better natures through logic would resolve. The extraordinary election of Barak Obama and simultaneous (and narrow) victory of Prop 8 is a clear manifestation of this. We must now exert pressure on the new administration and Congress to render the outcome of Prop 8 in California irrelevant through federal recognition of same-sex unions in some form.

Name: Andrew
Date posted: 2008-11-07 11:21 AM
Hometown: Houston

Comment:

Name: Tricia
Date posted: 2008-11-07 10:08 AM
Hometown: Sacramento

Comment:

I am so disgusted and vomitus over any proud gay or lesbian who would vote the repub ticket. As Josh said, Repubs HATE us! We are a THREAT to their "Leave it to Beaver" ideals. A vote for them is a vote against US. This I can NEVER understand in the way I CAN understand why the blacks have voted against US. We lost four states across this country BECAUSE of the deeply religious blacks and their "on the down low" ways. As much as I comprehend their vote, I am still hurt and pained because I worked happily NEXT to them to elect THEIR guy while they STABBED us in the backs. I'm sorry-- I'm just PISSED!! But I also know this is FAR from over. I am still thrilled about Barack and the HOPE, CHANGE, AND UNITY (including US!) HE WILL BRING!!

Name: Bud Evans
Date posted: 2008-11-07 8:58 AM
Hometown: Kansas City

Comment:

If Joe Lieberman could control the agenda with just his one vote in the Senate, a third party of around ten percent of the members of Congress could give maximum representation to a minority such as ours. A third party would be a powerbroker and could caucus with either party for control of Congress and in setting political agenda on a quid pro quo basis. Coalitions could be formed and “orphan” legislation (that is legislation which no party wants to go out on the limb for alone) could be passed. We owe nothing to the Democratic Party because they have (witness DOMA and DADT) given us nothing but betrayal or indifference in return. I really wanted to like Obama, but I don’t believe he has the courage to stick his neck out for us like President Johnson did for Black folk. I’d be pleasantly surprised if I am wrong. But I will not hold my breath until then.

Name: anto
Date posted: 2008-11-07 5:23 AM
Hometown: dublin

Comment:

with the republicans gone from office I was hopeful that Prop 8 would also fail and america would finally come out from under the blanket of hate and fear which the Bush administration fostered the last eight years, it was therefore with great sadness I learned that Prop 8 had won, when millions of americans are suffering the effect of econimic meltdown, the real sin of Prop 8 is the vast amount of money spent by the religious wright to instil their hate/homophobic/agendas, gay people must not be pawns in their games, I sincerely hope that the legal challange file against the yes vote will will win, society is best served when every person has equal rights, anto

Name: Rob
Date posted: 2008-11-07 2:41 AM
Hometown: San Francisco

Comment:

Take a look at the poll numbers for the anti-gay measures in AZ, FL and CA. It wasn't just Republicans voting for them. Plenty of Democrats did too. So wake up to the fact that Democrats pay us just enough lip service to get our money and our votes. When push comes to shove, we have tepid support at best. Obama will do much for the country, but I seriously doubt he'll do much to overturn DOMA, get rid of DADT. And he definitely won't fight for marriage equality. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of voting for the lesser of two evils - which is why I voted Green this year. But as for the Log Cabins, I'd rather have someone look me in the eye and tell me to my face they hate me than someone who embraces me, then sticks the knife in.

Name: Josh
Date posted: 2008-11-06 1:00 PM
Hometown: Orlando

Comment:

I am too thrilled today about being an American -- for the first time in far too long -- to fully express the disgust I have with any Gay person who votes the republican ticket. It is simple; republicans hate gay people. When will you log cabin types realize that? The ridiculous argument you give us about "working from the inside" is at best misguided and at worst --- stupid. Please wake up to the fact that after eight years of what will go down in history as the most disastrous presidency our country ever lived through that enough of us listened to a new voice of intelligence, compassion, and sharing that has much more to do with being an American than anything we've heard out of Washington DC in more than eight years. Thank you Mr. Obama for taking on your shoulders the indescribable mess that has been left to you by eight years of republican greed and stupidity.

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