A new poll by Gallup shows that Americans vastly overestimate the U.S. gay and lesbian population, a trend the polling organization says may be due in part to the “group’s outsized visibility.”
The survey, conducted in May and released on June 27, found U.S. adults estimate that nearly one in four (23.6 percent) Americans identify as gay or lesbians. In contrast, that figure is more than five times the percentage of those actually identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender in a 2017 Gallup poll. In that survey, Gallup polled respondents who self-identified as LGBT, estimating that population to be 4.5 percent, up from 3.4 percent in its inaugural 2012 survey on that topic.
“Exactly who makes up the LGBT community and how this group should be measured is a subject of some debate,” Gallup reported in 2012, adding “there are a number of ways to measure lesbian, gay, and bisexual orientation, and transgender status. Sexual orientation can be assessed by measuring identity as well as sexual behaviors and attractions.”
Even so, all existing methodologies estimate the actual LGBT population to be far lower than what the public estimates.
“No measurement procedure has produced any figures suggesting that more than one out of five Americans are gay or lesbian,” according to the survey summary.
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