Trump’s Bizarre YMCA Claim Falls Flat

Man speaking at rally with crowd behind him

President Trump is claiming he dominated the gay vote in 2024 because he played “YMCA” at rallies — but the actual exit-poll numbers tell a very different story.

Quick Take

Trump told Fox News he did “very well with the gay vote” and credited playing “YMCA” — which he called “the gay national anthem” — at campaign rallies.
NBC News exit polling from 2024 showed Kamala Harris won approximately 86 percent of LGBTQ+ voters, while Trump received roughly 12 percent.
The Village People initially objected to Trump’s use of “YMCA” but eventually allowed it, and members performed at events tied to his second inauguration.
Trump also separately claimed the song spent months at number one because of him — records show it charted for two weeks at the top spot in 2024.

Trump’s Claim: YMCA Won Him the Gay Vote

During a Fox News interview in late March 2026, President Trump stated, “I did very well with the gay vote,” directly linking that claim to his use of “YMCA” as his rally walk-off song. He called the 1978 Village People disco anthem “the gay national anthem” and suggested playing it was a key reason for his performance with LGBTQ+ voters in the 2024 election. The comments were widely reported and appear consistent across multiple outlets, suggesting the remarks were not misquoted or taken out of context.

Trump also separately boasted that “YMCA” spent months at number one on the charts in 2024, attributing the resurgence to his rallies. According to reporting, the song actually charted for two weeks at the top spot — not months — making that particular claim factually inaccurate. ^[7] The broader pattern here is a candidate weaving campaign symbolism into electoral performance claims without hard data to back them up.

What the Actual Voting Data Shows

The only quantified voting evidence available directly contradicts Trump’s boast. NBC News exit polling from the 2024 election, as reported by the Advocate, showed Kamala Harris winning approximately 86 percent of LGBTQ+ voters, while Trump received roughly 12 percent. ^[1] That is not a close race within this demographic. Exit polls do carry methodological limitations — sample sizes for smaller subgroups like LGBTQ+ voters can be thinner and error margins wider — but the gap here is too large to be explained away by polling noise alone.

Trump has not produced internal campaign polling, voter analytics, or any precinct-level demographic data to support his characterization of “very well.” ^[2] The claim rests entirely on his own assertion. No Republican has historically performed strongly with LGBTQ+ voters as a bloc, and the 2024 data available gives no indication that changed meaningfully, regardless of what songs played at rallies. Voters make decisions based on policy, not playlists.

The YMCA Story Has a Complicated History

The Village People originally objected to Trump’s use of “YMCA” at campaign events before eventually allowing it. ^[1] Members of the group later performed at events connected to Trump’s second inauguration. The song, released in 1978, became a cultural touchstone long associated with LGBTQ+ communities and disco culture. ^[5] Trump’s decision to use it as a rally anthem became one of the defining visual moments of his 2024 campaign, with crowds performing the arm-gesture routine at events nationwide.

President Trump on YMCA:
"The gay national anthem — that's why I did so well with the gay vote, because of that song."#Trump #YMCA #PNC pic.twitter.com/GC4tmgBemx

— People's news Channel (@peoplesnews2024) May 23, 2026

Whether the song choice was a deliberate outreach strategy or simply a crowd-pleasing rally staple is unclear. No campaign memos, staff interviews, or event production documents have surfaced to show that “YMCA” was selected as part of a coordinated effort to court LGBTQ+ voters. ^[3] Trump’s framing — that the song itself drove voter support — presents a causal link between rally music and ballot choices that no available evidence supports. It is the kind of post-hoc storytelling that sounds compelling in an interview but collapses under even basic scrutiny. Conservative voters deserve straight talk, and on this one, the numbers simply do not back up the narrative.