Most LGBTQ Americans say President Donald Trump doesn’t care about their needs

Jamie BallardData Journalist
June 12, 2020, 4:00 PM GMT+0

Looking at the presumed presidential candidates, Americans who identify as LGBTQ largely believe that former Vice President Joe Biden cares more about their needs and problems than President Donald Trump does.

In a poll from The Economist/YouGov, six in 10 (60%) members of the LGBTQ community say that Biden somewhat cares or cares a lot about gay, lesbian, and transgender Americans. Far fewer (18%) LGBTQ Americans say they feel the same about Trump.


Americans largely believe that former Vice President Joe Biden cares more than President Donald Trump does about the needs of gay, lesbian, and transgender Americans. About half (53%) of Americans feel that Biden at least somewhat cares about these groups. Fewer (37%) say the same about Trump.

About four in 10 (39%) Americans overall believe that Trump does not care at all about the needs and problems of gay, lesbian, and transgender people in the United States. About half as many (20%) say Biden doesn’t care at all about these groups.

There are some expected partisan splits on this topic: More than two-thirds (69%) of Republicans believe that Trump cares a lot or somewhat cares about these constituents, while just 13 percent of Democrats agree. Similarly, 79 percent of Democrats believe Biden cares about the needs of lesbian, gay, and transgender Americans, while fewer than two in five (37%) Republicans say the same.

See the toplines and crosstabs from this week’s Economist/YouGov Poll

Total unweighted sample size for this survey was 2,989 US adults, including 289 who said they identify as LGBTQ based on the question "With which group do you most closely identify?" with response options "Straight," "LGBTQ," and "Prefer not to say". Margin of Error for the data on the LGBTQ sample is 7.8%. Margin of error for the survey overall is 2.4%. This survey was conducted online between May 31 and June 9, 2020.

Related: Is sexuality a spectrum? Americans aren’t sure

Image: Getty