Gallup: Gay Vote Could Swing Election

Imagine if the LGBT vote ends up deciding the presidential election - the Christofascists would go berserk.  Yet Gallup special report suggest that such could be the case.  As has been the case with virtually every other minority group in the country, the Christofascist/Tea Party base has done all in its power to make voting Republican anathema to any self-respecting LGBT American who doesn't suffer from self-loathing or place more value on a nebulous chance of lower taxes than their own self respect and civil rights.  Here are highlights from Gallup:

A new Gallup Report finds that 71% of LGBT Americans who are registered voters support President Obama for reelection, while 22% support Governor Mitt Romney. From June to September, non-LGBT registered voters preferred Romney to Obama by one percentage point, 47% to 46%. However, when LGBT voters are added to electorate, Obama moves slightly ahead of Romney (47% to 45%). These findings suggest that the highly Democratic vote of the LGBT population could be enough to swing a very close election toward Obama.

The overall demographic patterns that are associated with the general population's preferences for Obama and Romney are also apparent within the LGBT population. LGBT Americans who support Romney tend to be older, white, more religious, and more likely to be married.  More specifically:

• Romney's LGBT supporters are nearly twice as likely as Obama's LGBT supporters to be seniors aged 65 or older (19% vs. 10%, respectively).
• Nearly nine in 10 LGBT Romney supporters (87%) are white, compared with two-thirds of LGBT Obama supporters (66%).
• Nearly two-thirds of LGBT Romney supporters (63%) say that religion is important to them, and more than 45% say that they attend a church, synagogue, or mosque at least once a month. Among LGBT Obama supporters, 43% say religion is important to them, and 31% go to church at least once a month.
• Nearly half of LGBT Romney supporters (49%) are married or living with a partner, compared with 39% of Obama LGBT supporters.

LGBT Individuals Tend to Approve of Obama:  Sixty-eight percent of LGBT Americans approved of the way Obama was doing his job as president during the June-September survey period, compared with 45% of non-LGBT Americans. Twenty-eight percent of LGBT Americans disapproved of the way Obama was doing his job, compared with 51% of non-LGBT individuals.

[T]he fact that roughly seven in 10 LGBT voters can be expected to vote for Obama on Nov. 6 shows that these voters could be an important factor in helping him win re-election in a close race.

Yes, it would be a delicious irony if the members of the GOP who have shamelessly prostituted themselves to the Christofascists for perceived political advantage ended up being the cause of Romney's loss  should he lose on November 6th.  I would love it! :)

GOP Senator in Northern Virginia, Foe Seeking Gay Vote

This Washington Post article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/02/AR2007100202235.html) shows just how schizophrenic politics can be in Virginia, which in many ways is two states: (1) the rural and homophobic southwest and southern portions of the state and (2) the urban cities and Northern Virginia. Thus, Republican incumbent Jeannemarie Devolites Davis (wife of Congressman Davis R-VA) is forced to work for vote among residents that others in the GOP in the backward, knuckle dragging parts of the state either ignore or use only for gay-baiting the Christianists. Here are some highlights:

If ever there were a sign that Northern Virginia's political landscape is shifting, it was the recent scene in a nondescript office park in Fairfax City, where two candidates for the state Senate battled passionately to win what each views as a crucial source of support this election season: the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender vote.

Republican incumbent Jeannemarie Devolites Davis and Democratic challenger J. Chapman Petersen practically fell over each other to win votes at a debate Thursday sponsored by Equality Fairfax, a nonpartisan group that seeks to end discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The debate provided more evidence of the political shake-up occurring in Northern Virginia. In the 34th Senate District, whose boundaries were drawn by Republicans six years ago, Davis is fighting for her political life against what all agree is an overwhelming Democratic advantage. As a result, her race with Petersen at times looks more like a nomination fight between progressive Democrats than a Virginia general election.

This district that these two candidates are vying to represent has become progressively more progressive over the past few years," said Tom Osborne of Virginia Partisans, a Democratic gay and lesbian group that has endorsed Petersen. "So any candidate who hopes to have a chance of winning would have to appeal to more progressive votes."

I see the trend continuing, with the urban areas and Northern Virginia eventually wrenching control of the state's political future from those who still think they are living in the early 20th century rather than the 21st century. The change cannot come soon enough in my view. It is one of my hopes that HRBOR will help speed up this change in mentality in the Hampton Roads business community.