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Sorry not sorry, JD Vance — 'Normal' gays still voted for Kamala Harris

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Christoph Schmidt/picture alliance via Getty Images

An overwhelming 86 percent of LGBTQ+ voters backed the Vice President, compared to just 12 percent who voted for Trump.

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Donald Trump might have won the presidential election, but "normal" gays still voted for Kamala Harris.

An overwhelming 86 percent of LGBTQ+ voters backed the Vice President, according to NBC's exit poll, compared to just 12 percent who voted for Trump. That's 15 points higher than in 2020, when 27 percent of LGBTQ+ voters cast their ballots for him, and makes Harris the most popular candidate among queer voters in the past five presidential elections.

It also makes Trump's running-mate JD Vance wildly incorrect in his assertion that they would be receiving the “normal gay guy vote.” Vance claimed during a recent appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast that he and Trump had won favor with gay men who “just wanted to be left the hell alone," immediately being mocked for the claims on social media.

Meanwhile, queer women were even less likely to support Trump at just 8 percent. White LGBTQ+ people largely supported Harris (82 percent) over Trump (16 percent), and LGBTQ+ voters of color supported Harris by an even larger margin of 91 percent to just 5 percent.

LGBTQ+ people made up 8 percent of American voters overall in 2024 — the largest share ever recorded.

Trump's return to the White House has been condemned by all major LGBTQ+ organizations, which have raised alarm over the administration's plans to roll back rights and protections for queer people. Many in the LGBTQ+ have expressed fear for the future, as NBC's poll found 43 percent of LGBTQ+ voters said they’d be “optimistic” if Harris won, whereas 62 percent said they’d be “scared” for Trump to win.

GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis told The Advocate in response to the results that "we must see this crisis as another catalyst for change."

“The LGBTQ community has been here before, as have all other marginalized communities, and the pain is real today," Ellis said. "But as we saw from the Lavender Scare to the Stonewall Uprising to the HIV epidemic to the defeat and victory for marriage, every breakdown can lead to a breakthrough."

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Ryan Adamczeski

Ryan is a reporter at The Advocate, and a graduate of New York University Tisch's Department of Dramatic Writing, with a focus in television writing and comedy. She first became a published author at the age of 15 with her YA novel "Someone Else's Stars," and is now a member of GALECA, the LGBTQ+ society of entertainment critics, and the IRE, the society of Investigative Reporters and Editors. In her free time, Ryan likes watching New York Rangers hockey, listening to the Beach Boys, and practicing witchcraft.
Ryan is a reporter at The Advocate, and a graduate of New York University Tisch's Department of Dramatic Writing, with a focus in television writing and comedy. She first became a published author at the age of 15 with her YA novel "Someone Else's Stars," and is now a member of GALECA, the LGBTQ+ society of entertainment critics, and the IRE, the society of Investigative Reporters and Editors. In her free time, Ryan likes watching New York Rangers hockey, listening to the Beach Boys, and practicing witchcraft.