LGBTQ voters and their allies overwhelmingly voted for Democratic candidates in this year’s midterm elections, dissuaded from voting for Republicans whose campaign platforms included attacks against LGBTQ people and misinformation about transgender athletes and health care.
In a poll released on Thursday by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), more than half of voters surveyed by the group said they were motivated by record-high inflation to cast a ballot in the midterms this year. Another 29 percent said they turned out to vote to have a greater say in their state’s abortion laws.
Less than 5 percent of voters said gender-affirming care for transgender youth or transgender participation in sports motivated them to vote, even as Republicans funneled millions into television and radio ads that accused Democrats of indoctrinating children and trying to “turn boys into girls.”
“Republicans lost because they nominated extreme candidates, conspiracy theorists, and far-right radicals who advocated extreme positions, including attacks on an LGBTQ+ community that grows more politically powerful every election cycle,” HRC interim President Joni Madison said on Thursday.
LGBTQ candidates in state, local and federal races won big in this year’s midterms, with at least 340 openly LGBTQ people elected, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund’s count.
An October HRC report found that LGBTQ people in the U.S. account for more than 11 percent of the nation’s voting eligible population and made up a record-setting 7 percent of the 2022 electorate, the group said Thursday, with more than 80 percent voting for Democratic candidates for Congress.
“Equality Voters,” or voters that support LGBTQ equality, totaled 62 million this year, the HRC said Thursday, accounting for 38 percent of the electorate.
Some Republican leaders have admitted that the party’s election strategy this year was flawed and failed to win over swing voters in elections in critical states like Michigan and Pennsylvania.
“There were more ads on transgender sports than inflation, gas prices and bread and butter issues that could have swayed independent voters,” Michigan Republican Party Chief of Staff Paul Cordes wrote in a scathing memo following the election.
“We did not have a turn out problem — middle of the road voters simply didn’t like what Tudor was selling,” Cordes said, referring to Tudor Dixon, the party’s nominee for governor.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-K.Y.) this week told reporters that Republicans underperformed because independent voters and moderate Republicans were “frightened” by conservatives associated with “chaos, negativity, [and] excessive attacks.”
According to Thursday’s HRC report, a majority of voters who voted against Republican candidates did so because of candidates’ views on reproductive rights, support for former President Trump and claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by Democrats.
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A large share also said attacks on people of color and LGBTQ people convinced them to vote for Democrats or third-party candidates.
Voters surveyed by HRC also voiced support for marriage equality and proposed legislation to enshrine same-sex and interracial marriage rights into federal law.
More than 60 percent of voters said they supported the Respect for Marriage Act, which cleared a Senate test vote on Wednesday with the support of 10 Republicans.