More than 90% of gay Americans voted in 2004 election
A study into the voting patterns of the American gay community has discovered extremely high voter turnout at the last Presidential election.
The report, released the day before Democratic candidates for the 2008 race hold their first ever debate for the gay community, shows that a massive 92.5% of gay male respondents said they voted in the 2004 Presidential election and nearly 83.8% voted in the mid-term Congressional elections in 2006.
90.7% of lesbians who took part reported that they voted in 2004 and 78% said they voted in 2006.
In comparison, media reports estimate that 64% of the general American population voted in the 2004 Presidential election and just 40% of the general population voted in the 2006 mid-term election.
President Bush was elected for a second term in 2004 with 62,040,610 votes to John Kerry’s 59,028,111.
The President took 31 out of 50 states.
In 2006 the Democrats seized control of the Senate and the House of Representatives for the first time since 1994.
The survey found that 31.1% of lesbian respondents made a financial contribution to a political party in the past year, compared to 40.1% of gay men who took part in the poll.
The median age of lesbian respondents in the survey was 44, which matches the median age of the general female population.
The median age of gay male participants was 44, which is slightly lower than the median age of 47 among the general male population.
The survey results are included in the Gay Consumer Index and Lesbian Consumer Index, national surveys of more than 12,000 gay Americans and 10,000 lesbian Americans conducted by Community Marketing Inc. in spring 2007.
“The results of the Gay Consumer Index and Lesbian Consumer Index studies demonstrate that the political parties would be smart to pay attention to the issues that mean the most to gay and lesbian voters,” commented Tom Roth, president of Community Marketing Inc.
“We have far more at stake than the average voter and we’re therefore far more engaged in the political process.”
Survey participants were solicited through over 75 widely-distributed internet and print publications in the US.
From April 13 to May 16, 2007, Community Marketing, Inc. conducted an online survey of lesbian and gay adults.
This survey comprehensively and effectively represents a broad spectrum of LGBT consumers in all parts of the USA. With a sample size of more than 10,000 for each Index, the margin of error is plus or minus 1% at a 95% confidence interval.
