by Mike Andrew - SGN Staff Writer

A new poll by Community Marketing & Insights shows that LGBT voters are still up for grabs in the upcoming presidential election.

If the election were held today, they told pollsters, 48% would vote for Hillary Clinton and 41% would vote for her rival Bernie Sanders.

But when asked which candidate would be 'the most supportive of LGBT civil rights,' respondents picked Sanders over Clinton by 31% to 25%. Some 37% said the two were equally committed to LGBT rights.

A whopping 98% said that 'supporting LGBT civil rights' was 'very important' or 'somewhat important' to them when voting for a president.

Community Marketing & Insights usually surveys the LGBT community for corporations that want to target marketing and investments. For this survey, they interviewed 563 LGBT registered voters in 46 states.

Donald Trump ran a very distant third to Clinton and Sanders in the poll, with 2% of respondents saying they would vote for him.

When asked which of the Republican presidential candidates would be the most supportive of LGBT civil rights, 73% answered 'none.'

Six percent selected John Kasich, 4% picked Donald Trump, and the remaining candidates received 2% or less.

'What is striking in this research is how little support the current group of Republican candidates have among the LGBT community in the 2016 presidential elections,' said David Paisley, senior research director at Community Marketing & Insights.

'Unless something changes, the party may largely forfeit about 5% of adults in the United States to the Democrats, which can cause important swings in tight elections.

'Republicans perhaps could connect with LGBTs on issue like the economy, taxation, and the influence of government in private lives, but instead have chosen policies not supportive of LGBT Americans.'

According the Real Clear Politics average of major polls, Clinton leads Sanders nationally by 13.7 points, so Sanders seems to be doing better among LGBT voters than he is among voters generally.

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