Poll: LGBT support for Obama on the rise, could carry weight in US election
The number of LGBT voters in favour of Barack Obama, for the US presidential election tomorrow, has risen substantially since two months ago, and could make a difference in the race, which has been very close.
The poll, commissioned by Logo TV, and run by Harris Interactive, showed that 72% of LGBT voters were in support of Obama, compared to 65% at the previous poll, two months ago, reported Advocate.com.
The support for Mitt Romney also fell slightly from 21% to 20%. The Harris report stated:
“The movement toward Obama is mostly a shift of LGBT voters who were unsure on the initial vote in August (9%) who have now moved to Obama.”
“If Election Day is as narrow as many are predicting, Romney’s inability to turn these unsure LGBT voters to his candidacy could mean the difference between victory and defeat.”
The report was not entirely positive for Obama, however, as it showed that from the overall population, support fell from 44% to 41%, and it rose for Romney from 39% to 43%.
The increase in LGBT support for Obama was not primarily linked to his support of the LGBT community, which respondents already felt positive about, a lot of whom said they thought he “cares about people like me.”
Rather, the report said that the percentage had grown because of a renewed belief that he could handle economic problems better than Mitt Romney.
Last week, Obama was endorsed by both the New York Times newspaper, as well as the city’s popular and influential mayor, Michael Bloomberg.
He had previously offered his support for equal marriage bills in four states.
