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The 2018 blue wave included quite a few LGBT wins -- even though voters are still wary of gay and tra
Source: Washington Post
The 2018 blue wave included quite a few LGBT wins — even though voters are still wary of gay and trans candidates.
By Gabriele Magni and
Andrew Reynolds November 25 at 7:00 AM
The blue wave in the midterm elections had some rainbow in it. Democrats gained a significant number of seats in the House of Representatives, state houses and governorships — and women, people of color and LGBTQ Americans were in front.
Kyrsten Sinema, who identifies as bisexual, became the first female senator from Arizona. The LGBTQ Congressional caucus has grown to 10, and for the first time has an equal number of women and men. Voters elected 36 new LGBTQ state legislators, all Democrats, in 26 states, 14 of them flipping red seats to blue; a majority were women. As a result, January will see a new historical high of 134 openly LGBTQ state house members taking office. Three of the five incumbent LGBTQ Republican state house members lost. A year ago, Danica Roem became the first openly identified transwoman elected to a state legislature in Virginia; in November, other states’ voters elected three additional openly transgender women.
Some observers argue that Democrats should be wary of framing races by emphasizing demographic differences and racial or other minority identities. In this election, at least, we find that voters’ desire to support representatives of, and from, some previously excluded groups helped power the Democrats’ success at the polls. Democrats, liberals, women and the non-religious were inclined to support female candidates and, to some degree, people of color.
But voters were generally disinclined to vote for LGBT candidates who identified themselves as LGBT — and especially as transgender — making the rainbow wins especially notable.
Here’s how we did our research
One month before the election, we conducted a survey with 1,500 American voters found through the survey company Cint. The nationally representative sample took the survey online. Our sample mirrors the U.S. census results for age, gender, location of residence, income and education.
-snip-
By Gabriele Magni and
Andrew Reynolds November 25 at 7:00 AM
The blue wave in the midterm elections had some rainbow in it. Democrats gained a significant number of seats in the House of Representatives, state houses and governorships — and women, people of color and LGBTQ Americans were in front.
Kyrsten Sinema, who identifies as bisexual, became the first female senator from Arizona. The LGBTQ Congressional caucus has grown to 10, and for the first time has an equal number of women and men. Voters elected 36 new LGBTQ state legislators, all Democrats, in 26 states, 14 of them flipping red seats to blue; a majority were women. As a result, January will see a new historical high of 134 openly LGBTQ state house members taking office. Three of the five incumbent LGBTQ Republican state house members lost. A year ago, Danica Roem became the first openly identified transwoman elected to a state legislature in Virginia; in November, other states’ voters elected three additional openly transgender women.
Some observers argue that Democrats should be wary of framing races by emphasizing demographic differences and racial or other minority identities. In this election, at least, we find that voters’ desire to support representatives of, and from, some previously excluded groups helped power the Democrats’ success at the polls. Democrats, liberals, women and the non-religious were inclined to support female candidates and, to some degree, people of color.
But voters were generally disinclined to vote for LGBT candidates who identified themselves as LGBT — and especially as transgender — making the rainbow wins especially notable.
Here’s how we did our research
One month before the election, we conducted a survey with 1,500 American voters found through the survey company Cint. The nationally representative sample took the survey online. Our sample mirrors the U.S. census results for age, gender, location of residence, income and education.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/11/25/the-2018-blue-wave-included-quite-a-few-lgbt-wins-even-though-voters-are-still-wary-of-gay-and-trans-candidates/
