Mon. August 4, 2003
Washington, D.C. -
A survey taken at Pride events in three major cities shows that former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean has emerged as the most favored candidate by gays and lesbians.
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force randomly surveyed 1,471 participants at Gay Pride events in Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, DC in June.
Thirty-two percent of those planning to vote in the Democratic Primary said they would support Dean.
This was nearly three times the percentage backing the next most popular candidate, Senator John Kerry, who had the support of 10% of respondents. Senator Joseph Lieberman was third with 7% support.
Congressman Richard Gephardt had 6% support while former Senator Carol Moseley Braun received 5%.
Sen. John Edwards got 4%; Rev. Al Sharpton 3%, Congressman Dennis Kucinich 2%; and Sen. Bob Graham 1%.
Twenty-eight percent of those planning to vote in the Democratic Primary were undecided on a candidate.
"Clearly, Governor Dean's record of leadership on civil unions in Vermont and his willingness to speak about equal rights for gay people to all audiences is resonating in our community," said Matt Foreman, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force executive director.
According to a Task Force Policy Institute report on the positions of the Democratic presidential candidates released in May, Dean supports equal treatment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in all policy areas except same-sex marriage. However, he recently encouraged states to recognize gay marriages entered into in Canada. (The provinces of Ontario and British Columbia legalized same-sex marriage this summer.)
Only 5% of respondents said they planned to vote for President George W. Bush in the 2004 election. In fact, a higher percentage plans to vote for a third party candidate (12%) than to re-elect Bush. Three in four (76%) plan to vote for the Democratic nominee. Seven percent are undecided.
The number of respondents saying they would support President Bush is significantly lower than exit polls during the 2000 race. In the 2000 Bush/Gore contest, he received one in four gay votes, according to Voter News Service exit poll data.
Foreman said that it is possible that the President's lackluster and sometimes hostile record on gay issues since his election has driven down gay voter support.
While in office, President Bush has opposed federal hate crimes and nondiscrimination legislation, put forward several extremely anti-gay candidates to the federal bench, and aggressively supported the "Faith Based Initiative," which would allow religious institutions to openly discriminate against gay people in federally-funded social service programs.
Openly gay, lesbian and bisexual voters comprise at least 5% of the vote in national elections, according to Voter News Service data gathered from 1996 to 2000. The gay vote is even more important in Democratic primaries, where it accounts for an estimated 10% of the vote.
Respondents were also asked what they thought were the three most important issues facing the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) community.
Partner recognition was the top priority of Gay Pride attendees in the three cities. Thirty-two percent said the following forms of partner recognition are among the most important issues facing the community: marriage/domestic partnership/civil unions; Social Security survivor and spousal benefits; and immigration rights. The second most important issue was nondiscrimination, prioritized by 26% of respondents. The third most important issue was a tie between HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment and inclusive hate crimes laws, both of which received 9.5% support.
Although the survey was not entirely random and was limited to three geographic areas, it is the largest sample of gay and gay-supportive potential voters surveyed during this election cycle.
by Paul Johnson
365Gay.com Newscenter
Washington Bureau Chief
©365Gay.com® 2003
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