A recent New York Times/Ipsos poll found that the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, do not believe that transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in women’s sports.
“When you think about transgender female athletes — meaning athletes who were male at birth but currently identify as female — do you think they should or shouldn’t be allowed to compete in women’s sports?” asked the survey.
Of the 2,128 people who participated, 79% said biological males who identify as female should not be allowed to participate in women’s sports.
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Of the 1,025 people who identified as Democrats or leaning Democrats, 67% said transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete with women.
Among 1,022 Republicans, that number was 94%.
The 81 independents interviewed represented the group with the greatest reluctance to say that transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete. Only 64% said they opposed it, while 26% refused to answer. Only 3% of Democrats and 1% of Republicans refused to answer.
The country saw a remarkable shift in awareness and opposition to the issue of transgender athletes in women’s sports in 2024, as a series of stories attracted national attention and controversy. The issue became a central campaign issue in November’s election for President-elect Trump and other Republicans.
ONE national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America (CWA) Legislative Action Committee found that 70% of moderate voters viewed the issue as “Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men who play girls’ and women’s sports, and transgender boys and men who use girls’ and women’s bathrooms” as important to them.
And 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was “very important.”
HOW TRANSGENDERISM IN SPORTS SHIFTED THE 2024 ELECTION AND IGNITED A NATIONAL COUNTERCULTURE
Nearly 70% of Americans say biological males should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports, according to a Gallup poll last year.
In June, a survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago asked respondents whether transgender athletes of either sex should be allowed to participate in sports leagues that correspond to their preferred gender identity instead of their biological sex. In that survey, 65% responded that it should never or rarely be allowed. When respondents were asked specifically about adult transgender female athletes competing in women’s sports, 69% opposed it.
Supporters of transgender athletes hold up signs outside a Riverside Unified School District meeting on December 19, 2024. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
With Trump due to return to office on Monday, Republicans are introducing a bill that would address the issue in Congress.
The Women and Girls in Sports Protection Act passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday and even had the support of two Democrats.
That bill will move on to the Republican-controlled Senate, and if it passes there, Trump will get to sign it into law early in his term.
