Keep in mind that 77% of gays voter for John Kerry in 2004, and 70% voted for Barack Obama in 2008.
So this would appear low. But according to CNN, John McCain got 27% of the gay vote in 2008 - so Romney's 23% is also a drop (Harris has 7% for other candidats, and 3% "unsure"). Though Harris says they had McCain's gay vote at 23%, so that would mean Romney is where McCain was.
Either way, it's possible we're still seeing some reticence from gays vis-a-vis Obama because of lingering, or leftover, angst from the first several years of the presidency when gays didn't feel their promises were getting the attention they deserved. I think the President has now done enough to merit our vote. But I worried back at the beginning that growing negatives are hard to turn around later - it's better to avoid the negatives in the first place. We need to see more polls, but it might not hurt Team Obama to ramp up the outreach to gay America a little.
From a Harris/Logo poll via the Blade:
The poll found that 67 percent of LGBT respondents will vote for President Obama in November, compared to 48 percent of general voters. More than a fifth of LGBT respondents also said they would consider voting for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney if he held the same positions on gay rights as the president. Twenty-six percent of LGBT voters also said they are more likely to vote for Republicans if the GOP held the same positions on gay-specific issues as the Democratic Party.Past numbers, below.
2004 Kerry vs Bush exit poll:
4% of voters were gay2006 US House exit poll:
77% voted Kerry
23% voted Bush
3% of voters were gay2008 US House exit poll:
75% voted Democratic
24% voted Republican
3% of voters were gay2008 Obama vs McCain exit poll:
80% voted Democratic
19% voted Republican
4% of voters were gay2010 US House exit poll data:
70% voted Obama
27% voted McCain
3% of voters were gay
68% voted Democratic
31% voted Republican
