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| IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jeffrey S. Garber, President OpusComm Group, Inc. (315) 637-2018
National Gay Poll Reveals 2004 PresidentialChoice
56% of respondents would vote for John Kerry for President
92% say gay rights issues are on their voting minds - even above the economy
79% of gays state that legalization of same-sex marriage is #1 concern
95% of gays are registered to vote
Syracuse, New York – February, 2004 If the presidential election were held today, John Kerry overwhelming would be the 2004 presidential choice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered (GLBT) community, according to a new national poll conducted last week on the heals of Howard Dean's withdrawal from the presidential race.
GLCensus Partners (a Syracuse University, OpusComm Group partnership) conducted the poll of 2,058 GLBT respondents online from February 20 through February 23. The research group maintains one of the nation's largest GLBT national research panels.
Revealed findings of the following questions:
- Q1: If the 2004 presidential election were held today, for whom would you vote?
- Q2: In national elections for offices such as President and U.S. Congress, what issues, problems or concerns are the most important to you personally in deciding whether and how to vote?
- Q3: There are a number of important issues that the national gay rights movement has emphasized. Of the issues listed below what is the importance of each goal as it relates in your decision when voting for a President in the upcoming 2004 election?
- Q4: Compared to other issues, how important are issues involving GLBT rights to you in deciding whether and how to vote?
Q1: If the 2004 presidential election were held today, for whom would you vote?
Possible answers were as follows George Bush John Edwards John Kerry Dennis Kucinich Al Sharpton A candidate from other than the Democratic or Republican party Not sure
There is some difference by gender and self-identification* as shown below:
Candidate
Gay men
Lesbians
Bush
4%
1%
Edwards
23.3%
16.6%
Kerry
56.2%
57.8%
Kucinich
3.2%
6.2%
Sharpton
.5%
1.0%
Candidate from other than the Democratic or Republican party
2.6%
2.3%
Not sure
10.2%
15.1%
100.0%
100.0%
Gay men are male respondents who identified as gay, homosexual or queer. Lesbians are female respondents who identified as gay, lesbian, homosexual or queer.
Q2: In national elections for offices such as President and U.S. Congress, what issues, problems or concerns are the most important to you personally in deciding whether and how to vote? (Please check all that apply.)
Rank
Total
base
1.
GLBT rights issues
91.4%
2.
Civil rights
81.1%
3.
Civil liberties
74.8%
4.
Economy
74.3%
5.
Jobs and unemployment
69.0%
6.
Health care
66.2%
7.
Environment
59.9%
8.
AIDS
53.5%
9.
Abortion/pro-life/pro-choice
53.1%
10.
Foreign policy
48.5%
11.
Women’s rights
48.3%
12.
Social Security
47.7%
13.
Education K-12
44.2%
14.
Taxes
40.8%
15.
Privacy
37.8%
16.
Energy policy
36.3%
17.
Education — Higher education
36.3%
18.
Iraq/Middle East
31.3%
19.
Gun control/gun rights
29.3%
20.
Terrorism/homeland security
28.7%
21.
Political reform
28.3%
22.
Crime and law enforcement
28.1%
23.
National defense
23.6%
24.
Welfare
22.3%
25.
Transportation
17.5%
" American gay voters clearly have a number of concerns on their mind when they enter the voting booth; but none more important than gay rights and civil liberties," said Jeffrey Garber, president of OpusComm Group Inc., and founder of the GLCensus Partners. "This is even above the economy, which the respondents ranked very high on their list. For this reason alone, a potential presidential candidate would have to be sensitive to this constituency's needs in order to win their vote as a bloc,"
Q3: There are a number of important issues that the national gay rights movement has emphasized. Of the issues listed below what is the importance of each goal as it relates in your decision when voting for a President in the upcoming 2004 election?
Three issues stood out from the rest. In order, they are: 1) Legal recognition of same-sex marriages for tax, estate and insurance purposes 2) Parental rights for both parents in a same-sex union 3) Equal opportunity in employment
Rank
Extremely important
Very important
Somewhat important
Not important
1.
Legal recognition of same-sex marriage for tax, estate and insurance purposes
78.5%
14.1%
6.1%
1.3%
2.
Parental rights for both parents insame-sex union
74.8%
17.4%
6.5%
1.3%
3.
Equal opportunity in employment
72.3%
22.5%
4.7%
.5%
4.
Right to legal adoption
64.5%
24.1%
9.2%
2.1%
5.
Recognition of civil unions
57.7%
27.6%
10.7%
4.0%
6.
Hate crimes legislation to specifically punish “gay bashing”
55.7%
26.6%
14.1%
3.6%
7.
Increased funding to find a cure for HIV/AIDS
44.4%
37.4%
16.5%
1.7%
8.
Right to serve in the military
39.3%
30.0%
22.7%
8.0%
9.
Increased gay representation in govt.
34.0%
34.8%
28.1%
3.1%
10.
Increased integration within mainstream America
32.9%
35.1%
26.0%
6.1%
11.
Religious recognition of marriage
12.5%
10.6%
20.8%
56.1%
"In a similar poll we did earlier this year, the top three issues were the same, yet the order has changed," said Amy Falkner of Syracuse University, lead researcher on the project. "Legal recognition of same-sex marriage is now the top concern of potential gay voters. They are going to be looking at a candidate's stand on this issue with the most scrutiny.
"Couple this with the fact that our research consistently shows that the GLBT community is more likely to be registered to vote than the national average, and you have a potentially powerful voting bloc," she added.
Q4: Compared to other issues, how important are issues involving GLBT rights to you in deciding whether and how to vote?
In general, female respondents considered GLBT rights a more important issue.
Male
Female
Single most important issue
13.3%
17.9%
One of my top few considerations
49.7%
52.8%
Important, along with other issues
32.7%
27.0%
Only somewhat important as a consideration
3.0%
1.6%
Not that important a consideration
1.3%
.6%
Political party affiliation
Voter registration
95% of respondents say they are registered to vote. This is a much higher percentage than those who say they are registered nationally. (This also corresponds to the percentages in the last three GLCensus surveys; in all previous surveys at least 90% said they were registered to vote). According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 70% of the voting-age, citizen population was registered to vote in the 2000 presidential election. *
*Source: Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2000, available at
http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/p20-542.pdf
Survey conducted: The survey was conducted online from February 20 through midnight February 23.
Survey announced: The survey was announced through an e-mail invitation to individuals in the national GLCensus database. We maintain one of the largest databases of the GLBT community.
Survey security: Respondents are allowed to take the survey only once. Respondents are screened through e-mail security measures to ensure this happens.
Survey methodology: Please see our methodology statement at our web site athttp://www.glcensus.com/downloads/Why_Online_Surveys.htm
Survey base: The base for the entire survey is 2,058 respondents who self-identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered. Respondents range in age from 18 to 74. The median age is 38. 49.5% of survey respondents have a household income of $59,999 or less; 50.5% have a household income of $60,000 or more
The GLCensus Partners is a partnership between the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and advertising and public relations firm OpusComm Group, Inc., which specializes in consultation of sensitivity issues and market plan development for all types of advertisers to target the GLBT community.
For further information and to review a full summary of the February 2004 GLBT political poll, contact Jeffrey Garber, president of OpusComm Group at jeff@opuscommgroup.com (315) 637-2018 or visit www.glcensus.org.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: ALL INFORMATION IS TO BE ACCREDITED TO:
GLCensus Partner (www.glcensus.org) Study - A Syracuse University and OpusComm Group research partnership
GLCensus Partners (www.glcensus.org)- The world leader in GLBT consumer research, includes: - The S.I. Newhouse School at Syracuse University (www.syracuse.edu) - One of the world’s leading academic and research institutions in the field of communications.
- OpusComm Group (www.opuscommgroup.com) - Innovative Advertising, Marketing, Communication, Research and Public Relations experts on the Gay/Lesbian market. |