A Third Of Republicans Say More LGBTQ+ People In US Congress Would Be A “Bad Thing”
September 28, 2022LGBTQ+ people are severely underrepresented in public office. However, a significant number of Republicans believe that it would be worse for any more to get elected to Congress.
Around one in three Republicans said that it would be a “bad thing” for more LGBTQ+ people to be elected to Congress, an Insider/Morning Consult poll found. 2210 adults participated in the poll, which was conducted between September 8 and 10, 2022.
Republican men were even more hostile to LGBTQ+ representation (40%) than Republican women (29%) in the poll’s results.
Only 15% of Republicans said it would be a “good thing” for there to be more LGBTQ+ representation in Congress, as LGBTQ Nation, writes.
Democrats were far more supportive. Only 10% suggested opposition, with 59% saying it would be a “good thing” to have more.
“With representation, the only thing that stuck out to me is just the massive, massive gap about whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing to elevate LGBTQ Americans between Democrats and Republicans,” said Morning Consult senior reporter Eli Yokley. “The share who say it’s a bad thing, it’s like a third of Republicans say it’s a bad thing. That’s a pretty big number on that kind of question.”
Currently 11 members of Congress – nine in the House, two in the Senate – are out as LGBTQ+.
Finding the exact number of LGBTQ+ people is a difficult task. a 2021 Gallup poll found that 5.6% of American adults were willing to tell a pollster they’re LGBTQ+ in some way. If 5.6% of Congress were LGBTQ+ too, there would be 30 members of Congress, almost three times as many as there are now.
Broken down by generation, the poll found:
- 34% of Baby Boomers said more LGBTQ+ representation is a good thing compared; 24% saying it’s a bad thing,
- 34% of Gen Xers support more representation; 23% against. ,
- 42% of Millennials support more representation; 15% against, and
- 54% of Gen Zers support more representation; only 12% against.
People who were more educated, lived in urban or suburban areas, and weren’t Christian were more likely to support LGBTQ+ representation in Congress, but the results were similar across income categories. Among non-Christians, atheists were the most supportive of more LGBTQ+ representation (73% to 5%). Among Christians, Evangelicals were the most opposed (24% to 34%).
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