By Gary Barlow

Staff writer

According to exit polls, Hillary Clinton won the battle for gay and lesbian votes in New York and California on Super Tuesday—Feb. 5—while an analysis of other returns around the country, including in Chicago, points to a possible Clinton advantage but is less conclusive.

Exit polls in New York gave Clinton a 59-36 percent edge among gay and lesbian voters, and in California she captured an even larger percentage of gay votes, 63 percent to Barack Obama’s 29 percent.

In both states, her advantage among gay and lesbian voters was larger than her lead among other voters, though she won both states handily.

Those were the only states where exit polling was done on gay and lesbian voters, but returns from heavily gay areas in other Super Tuesday states indicates that Clinton’s popularity among gay and lesbian voters may have swelled her vote totals.

In Massachusetts, Clinton won heavily gay Provincetown, mirroring her surprising upset win over Obama in the state. Obama, however, won some heavily gay areas in Boston, although his general strength among upscale voters may have had much to do with his advantages in those neighborhoods.

In Chicago, Obama trounced Clinton, winning almost 73 percent of the vote. But his percentages were lower in most of the North Side’s heavily gay lakefront wards. In the 44th and 47th wards, Obama beat Clinton 67-31 percent. In the 46th Ward, the split favored Obama 66-32 percent and in the 48th Ward Obama won 65-33 percent.

And in the 40th Ward, which includes a substantial lesbian population, Clinton managed to win more than 38 percent of the votes, to Obama’s 59 percent.