Trump Voters Think Straight Men Face More Discrimination Than LGBTQ People

A new poll shows that Trump voters think straight men face greater discrimination than members of the LGBTQ community, women, or people of color.

In a survey conducted by YouGov and The Economist, 49 percent of respondents who voted for President Donald Trump in the 2016 election claimed heterosexual males face a “great deal” or “fair amount” of identity-based bias. Just 41 percent, though, said that LGBTQ people are discriminated against because of who they are.

As Newsweek first reported, Trump voters felt that straight men experienced greater prejudice than any minority or marginalized group mentioned in the survey.

Thirty percent of the president’s supporters felt women are subjected to a “great deal” or “fair amount” of discrimination. Slightly higher shares claimed that Mexican-Americans (42 percent) and African-Americans (also 42 percent) either frequently or sometimes encounter bigotry.

Trump voters felt Asian-Americans face the least amount of discrimination. Only 27 percent of those polled believed Asians experience a “great deal” or “fair amount” of discrimination in the United States.

YouGov and The Economist surveyed 1,500 U.S. adults between Oct. 14 and Oct. 16.

There are few objective data reports on discrimination against heterosexual males in the U.S., making the suspect conclusions of Trump voters difficult to outright debunk. What is verifiable, however, is that LGBTQ people have faced an increase in violence and targeted attacks since Trump’s election in November 2016.

Last year was the deadliest on record for queer and trans Americans, according to a report from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. Fifty-two LGBTQ people were killed in 2017, the majority of whom were transgender women.

The number of single-incident homicides motivated by anti-LGBTQ hate represented an 86 percent increase from the year prior.

Meanwhile, LGBTQ community centers across the country have experienced a wave of attacks. Queer resource spaces in Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and Wisconsin have faced death threats, been tagged with graffiti, or had bullets fired through their windows.

At Washington, D.C.’s Casa Ruby, a 20-year-old assailant physically assaulted a trans woman and doused her with pepper spray.

Trump has yet to speak out about the increase in violence under his presidency.

Despite his silence on anti-LGBTQ attacks, the president has stoked fears among his followers about a war on men in the #MeToo era. After three women accused since-confirmed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of assault, the POTUS concluded it’s a “very scary time for young men in America.”

“[Y]ou can be guilty of something you may not be guilty of,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn. “This is a very difficult time.”

Image via Getty

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