Voters Accept Gay Support

Right-wing Fox pundit Bill O'Reilly said on his show Aug. 13 that a majority of Americans would not vote for a presidential candidate backed by a gay rights group .
The media watchdog site MediaMatters. org debunked O'Reilly's statement Wednesday, having scoured the Web for the poll O'Reilly cited and finding one that said the opposite.
In the exchange between the host and correspondent Kirsten Powers, O'Reilly said a recent poll, possibly by the Pew Research Center, showed candidates would lose votes for being endorsed by a gay group. The context was last week's HRC/Logo Democratic presidential forum.
"OK, but say a gay -- the question posed, 'If a gay rights organization endorses you, would that make you more or less likely to vote?' (sic) And most Americans said less likely," O'Reilly said, according to MediaMatters.
Powers argued that most Americans are not knowledgeable about what groups are endorsing which candidates.
Media Matters was unable to find such a Pew poll, but instead found an Aug. 6-8 Quinnipiac poll that showed voters from Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio would be willing to vote for a candidate backed by a gay rights group.
Sixty percent of Florida voters said it would make no difference, as did 54 percent from Ohio and 59 percent from Pennsylvania.
Ten percent of voters from Florida and Ohio said they would be more likely to vote for a gay-friendly candidate; 11 percent said the same in Pennsylvania. Nearly a third of voters in each state said they would be less likely to vote for such a candidate. ( The Advocate)