Blogger Chris Crain takes issue with the exit poll numbers we cited. 

In a previous post on this blog, we pointed out that John McCain received 27% of the gay vote this year, and that was up from 20% that George W. Bush received in 2004.

While admitting the 27% number for McCain this year is correct, Crain disputes the 20% that Bush got in 2004.  He says it was actually 24%, according to a Voter News Service exit poll at the time.  (I assume this is the one he’s talking about.  If so, it shows 23%.)

We can go back and forth about exit polls.  Here is an LA Times exit poll from 2004 showing 17% of the gay vote for Bush/Cheney.  I suppose we could have used that 17% figure (and we would have been correct) to illustrate an even bigger improvement for McCain with the gay vote this time around.  But, with one exit poll showing 17% in 2004, and another showing 23%, we split the difference to say about 20%.

Whichever exit poll from 2004 you decide to believe, 2008 still marks an increase in the number of gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans voting for the Republican nominee for president, Sen. John McCain.

At the end of the day, the point remains that McCain did better than any other GOP nominee with gay Americans.

-posted by Scott Tucker