(NEXSTAR) – A Gallup poll released Wednesday found that adults from Generation Z are far likelier to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans (LGBT) than older Americans are.
An estimated 5.6 percent of U.S. adults identify as LGBT, according to the poll, a 4.5 percent increase from Gallup’s last update, based off data from 2017.
The results are compiled from more than 15,000 interviews conducted throughout 2020 with Americans aged 18 and up.
As for Gen Zers (those born between 1997 and 2002) 1 in 6, or roughly 16 percent of respondents identified as as LGBT.
Comparatively, 9 percent of Millennials and 3.8 percent of Gen Xers identify as LGBT. Just 1.3 percent of those born before 1946 and 2 percent of baby boomers identified similarly.
Gallup is uncertain whether the higher LGBT identification in younger Americans “reflects a true shift in sexual orientation” or “a greater willingness of young people to identify as LGBT.”
The vast majority of LGBT respondents (54.6 percent) identify as bisexual, while nearly a quarter say they are gay, 11.7 percent lesbian and 11.3 percent transgender.
Women and politically liberal people are more likely to identify as LGBT than men and politically conservative individuals. Nearly nine percent of Democrats and 1.7 percent of Republicans identify as LGBT, per the survey.
According to Gallup, the poll results stem from “a time when Americans are increasingly supportive of equal rights” for LGBT people, and “with younger generations far more likely than older generations to consider themselves LGBT,” the identification is predicted to rise steadily.
