Tim Walz fends off misinformation over pro-LGBTQ stance

A barrage of attacks on Tim Walz fueled by misinformation over his support for LGBTQ communities has failed to dent the US vice presidential candidate's surging poll ratings, suggesting that voters are wearying of some "culture war" issues in a tight White House race.

The push, which includes false assertions that Walz signed a law protecting pedophiles, has been amplified by Donald Trump and top Republicans as political campaigning kicks into high gear ahead of the November 5 election.

Walz -- the popular two-term governor of Minnesota -- has also faced a torrent of misinformation about his legislative record on transgender rights and gender-affirming care.

Trump recently heaped scorn on Walz, saying he was "heavy into the transgender world."

Trump's supporters have mocked him as "Tampon Tim," falsely asserting that he forced schools to make tampons and pads available in boys' toilets, after he signed a law that requires schools to make the products available for free for menstruating students.

But -- unlike an issue such as abortion, which has driven voters to polls at local, state and national levels since the Supreme Court overturned the right to the procedure in 2022 -- the attacks appear to have failed to move the needle on Walz.

"People are getting 'issue fatigue' with regards to the culture wars," Todd Belt, director of the political management program at George Washington University, told AFP.

"As the election gets closer, people want to hear out kitchen-table issues that have a material effect on their well-being."

- 'Real issues' -

"Inflation is Americans' most important issue," said an Economist-YouGov poll in mid-August, with 26 percent expressing concern about prices.

When asked about other issues "important" to Americans, jobs and economy, immigration, healthcare and climate change were listed as the top answers.

Abortion, which many Americans regard as a hot-button culture war issue, appeared on the list, at sixth place.

"Voters are insisting that politicians focus instead on the real issues facing our nation, including inflation, abortion rights, and climate change," said GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis.

Her statement followed a survey in March which concluded that campaigning on anti-transgender issues was a "losing strategy," with candidates who frequently discuss them creating more opposition than support for their campaigns.

That has not stopped both Republicans and Democrats from putting the culture wars at the center of their campaigns, and in a volatile election cycle issues other than abortion could yet break through.

But for now, despite the hammering of his pro-LGBTQ record, Walz has stayed easily ahead of Republican vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance in national polling.

- 'People are tired' -

Much of the rhetoric against Walz involves children, including a viral claim across social media that he signed a bill last year protecting pedophiles in Minnesota, AFP fact-checkers reported.

The false claim, which garnered tens of thousands of views on sites such as Instagram, deploy a long-standing disinformation trope tying the LGBTQ community to pedophilia.

While lawmakers did remove a reference to pedophilia in the state's human rights law, experts including Naomi Cahn, a University of Virginia professor, said the move does not affect the "criminal laws concerning sexual contact with a child."

Other posts falsely accuse Walz of allowing the state to terminate parental custody if trans children are stopped by their parents from receiving gender-affirming care.

"Tim Walz signed a bill that lets the state take away (your) kids... in the name of 'gender affirming care,'" conservative talk show host Megyn Kelly wrote on the platform X, a falsehood that garnered over 2.5 million views and was widely shared by Trump supporters.

Walz battled such misinformation after he signed the Trans Refuge Bill last year, granting legal protection to transgender people who come to Minnesota to seek medical care, even if the treatment is illegal in their home state.

Top Republicans such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin did see electoral success in past voting cycles by stoking anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.

But polls showed that -- unlike Democrats with abortion rights -- Republicans had little success mobilizing voters around anti-trans issues in the 2022 midterm elections.

"It's not working right now" before the November election, Belt said, adding that "people are tired" of the messaging.

"You can't win an election just by being against something."