LGBTQ+ Adults Prefer Biden Over Trump — But Want Democrats to Do More to Protect Their Rights
By Rob Todaro
Recently, Data for Progress surveyed 873 LGBTQ+ adults, including an oversample of transgender adults, nationally using web panel respondents. These newly released findings reveal LGBTQ+ adults' impressions of the Biden administration, the Democratic and Republican parties, and the top issues that matter to them when voting.
When asked if they have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the following people or institutions, LGBTQ+ adults have a favorable view of the Democratic Party (+21) and Joe Biden (+5) and an unfavorable view of the Republican Party (-52) and Donald Trump (-55).
LGBTQ+ adults are divided on whether the Biden administration is doing better or worse than they expected, with 45% saying better and 47% saying worse. Among transgender adults, a majority (52%) say the Biden administration is doing worse than they expected, while 37% say it’s doing better than they expected.
Seventy percent of LGBTQ+ adults who identify as a Democrat, including 81% of Democratic transgender adults, also say the Democratic Party should be doing more to protect the rights of transgender and queer Americans from anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
When asked to identify the top issues they consider when deciding which candidate to vote for, LGBTQ+ adults select the economy, jobs, and inflation (27%), LGBTQ+ issues (15%), abortion (10%), and threats to democracy (9%) as key considerations. Among transgender adults, LGBTQ+ issues are clearly in front (50%), followed distantly by the economy, jobs, and inflation (12%). Similarly, LGBTQ+ adults ages 18 to 24 rank LGBTQ+ issues as their top issue (24%), tied with the economy, jobs, and inflation (24%).
A plurality of LGBTQ+ adults (43%) specifically say that the Republican Party does not care much about people like them, followed by 37% who say neither party cares and 11% who say the Democratic Party does not care. However, a majority of transgender adults (51%) and a plurality of LGBTQ+ adults ages 18 to 24 (48%) say neither party cares much about people like them.
Furthermore, while a majority of LGBTQ+ adults (61%) say they are as enthusiastic as normal or more enthusiastic about voting in 2024 compared with previous elections, LGBTQ+ adults ages 18 to 24 report nearly triple the rate of being less enthusiastic to vote than LGBTQ+ adults ages 65 and up.
These results demonstrate that while LGBTQ+ adults view Biden and the Democrats more favorably than Trump and the Republicans, they are divided on whether the Biden administration is doing better or worse than they expected and think Democrats should be doing more to protect their rights against anti-LGBTQ+ legislation — especially those who are transgender and/or ages 18 to 24. Among LGBTQ+ adults, those who are transgender and/or ages 18 to 24 also report the highest rates of feeling like neither party cares much about them.
Rob Todaro (@robtodaro) is the Communications Director at Data for Progress.
Survey Methodology
From March 8 to 14, 2024, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 873 LGBTQ+ adults nationally using web panel respondents. Respondents were defined as LGBTQ+ if they identified as LGBTQ+, transgender, a sexual orientation other than straight or heterosexual, or a gender identity other than male or female. The sample was weighted to be representative of the adult LGBTQ+ community by age, gender, education, and race using the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey (HPS) data on the national LGBTQ+ adult population. This sample is also weighted to account for an oversample of transgender adults to ensure proportional representation of the LGBTQ+ adult population. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±3 percentage points.
Estimates of the proportion of adults identifying as LGBTQ+ come from cycles 34-38 of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, collected between July 21, 2021 and September 13, 2021.