LGBT voters overwhelmingly reject Donald Trump, polling shows

ROCHESTER, NH - SEPTEMBER 17: Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump listens to a question during a town hall event at Rochester Recreational Arena September 17, 2015 in Rochester, New Hampshire. Trump spent the day campaigning in New Hampshire following the second Republican presidential debate. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images)

Donald Trump’s poll numbers among LGBT people are flat-lining as he doubles down on his anti-LGBT policy stances.

Mr Trump was once a moderate within the Republican Party on LGBT issues, suggesting that people shouldn’t be fired because of their sexuality.

But he has reneged since, saying he would “consider” appointing ultra-conservative Supreme Court justices to repeal equal marriage, and confirming he would sign a Republican-backed law to directly permit homophobic discrimination.

This week, a poll has found Trump’s poll ratings have crashed among LGBT voters.
LGBT voters overwhelmingly reject Donald Trump, polling shows
The NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll found that 72% of LGBT voters would support, compared to just 20% for Mr Trump.

In a four-way match up including fringe candidates Jill Stein and Gary Johnson, Clinton maintains 63 percent of the vote while Trump is on just 15 percent. Stein picks up 8 percent while Johnson is on 13.
LGBT voters overwhelmingly reject Donald Trump, polling shows

80% of LGBT voters view Trump unfavourably, giving him a net favourability rating of -65.

Despite being unpopular nationally, Clinton manages to preserve a rare positive favourability rating among LGBT voters of +18, with 59% seeing her positively.

The poll found that LGBT support for Clinton was nearly as strong as it had been for Barack Obama in 2012, when 76 percent of LGBT voters backed the Democrat.

Today, Obama has a 78 percent approval rating among LGBT people, likely reflecting progress on equal marriage and trans rights under his tenure.

Despite some critics of Clinton’s historic record on LGBT rights, the former Secretary of State is a firm supporter of equality and has outlined a vast LGBT policy manifesto. Mr Trump has outlined zero pro-LGBT policies and released no LGBT policy documents.

The worst may be yet to come for Trump, as the polling of the 1,728 LGBT voters was carried out from September 5 to 18 – before his pledge to sign a radical ‘conscience’ law to permit discrimination.

On September 23, Trump confirmed he would sign the so-called First Amendment Defence Act, which bans the government from taking any “action against a person, wholly or partially on the basis that such person believes or acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognised as the union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.”

 

The broadly written law would effectively legalise all discrimination against LGBT people in all sectors – from employment to retail to healthcare – as long as the person discriminating claims it was due to their religion.

The shocking move would require the repeal of Barack Obama’s landmark LGBT discrimination protections, which Trump also confirmed he would axe.

He said in a statement: “Religious liberty is enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution.

“It is our first liberty and provides the most important protection in that it protects our right of conscience. Activist judges and executive orders issued by Presidents who have no regard for the Constitution have put these protections in jeopardy.

“If I am elected president and Congress passes the First Amendment Defense Act, I will sign it to protect the deeply held religious beliefs of Catholics and the beliefs of Americans of all faiths.”