Most American voters would be “comfortable” with an LGBTQ president

6th April 2019

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A poll has shown how American attitudes have shifted in the past decade, with most voters supporting the idea of an openly LGBTQ president.

A new poll by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal has shown how political attitudes toward an LGBTQ president have shifted. The results showed that 68% of people were either “comfortable” or “enthusiastic” about an LGBTQ president. Broken down those results are 54% and 14% respectively.

The last time that question was asked back in 2006, only 43% were “comfortable” with the idea. At that time, 47% of people aged 18-34 were comfortable with the idea, and only 31% of people aged 65+ were.

Now, both of those figures have risen to 75% and 56% respectively.

The findings are good news for openly gay candidate Pete Buttigieg, who launched his campaign to become the first gay president of the United States earlier this year.

“I belong to a generation that is stepping forward right now,” he said in his campaign announcement video.

“We’re the generation that lived through school shootings, that served in the wars after 9/11, and we’re the generation that stands to be the first to make less than our parents unless we do something different.

“We can’t just polish off a system so broken. It is a season for boldness and a focus on the future.”

And since announcing his candidacy, he has launched a blistering attack on the views of anti-LGBTQ vice-president Mike Pence.

“He genuinely believes things that most of us would consider really far out… he’s written that he thinks that cigarettes don’t kill,” Pete said.

“He seems to believe people like me just get up and decide to be gay. His worldview is one that is way out of step with the American mainstream.”

Addressing Pence’s time as Governor of Indiana, Buttigieg said: “We saw that in Indiana when he really embarrassed our state with policies that both Democrats and Republicans, in not just the political world, but the business community stepped up and said ‘hey you’re making us look like a backwards place at just the moment we’re trying to advance.’”