Voters actually hate ‘mean-spirited’ anti-transgender political ads like Trump’s: survey

Although former President Donald Trump and Republicans have leaned into transphobia in the final days of the election cycle, betting on winning at the expense of transgender Americans, a new poll from Data for Progress suggests that most voters aren’t receptive to the message. The survey, conducted from October 18 through 21, reveals that 54 percent of likely voters believe political attack ads targeting the transgender community have become “mean-spirited and out of hand.”

Related: Republicans are betting on transphobia to win the 2024 election for Donald Trump

Trump and other Republican candidates have made transgender issues central to their campaigns, pouring millions into ads aimed at framing Democrats as extreme for supporting transgender rights. One frequently airing ad highlights Vice President Kamala Harris’s backing of gender-affirming care for incarcerated transgender individuals, an issue the Trump campaign has used to attack her. However, Harris has pointed out that gender-affirming care, including hormone therapy, was provided under Trump’s administration, adding that the government is legally required to provide medically necessary care, including to transgender prisoners.

In an interview with Fox News last week, Harris defended her stance, declaring, “I will follow the law, and it’s a law that Donald Trump actually followed.” She emphasized that Trump’s campaign, which has spent $20 million on ads about this issue, is attempting to incite fear among voters without offering real solutions. “As it relates to the biggest issues that affect the American people, it’s really quite remote,” she said. According to Data for Progress, voters are more concerned about the economy and inflation than the divisive cultural battles surrounding transgender rights.

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Related: Donald Trump’s latest anti-transgender attack on Kamala Harris ‘reeks of desperation,’ advocates say

The Data for Progress survey, which was released Thursday, indicates that this approach may alienate voters rather than sway them. Seventy-four percent of voters, including a majority of Republicans, believe transgender people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Fifty-two percent of respondents say they prefer candidates who support transgender rights, while 55 percent agree that the more than 530 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in 2024, as tracked by the American Civil Liberties Union, are excessive and represent political theater.

Eighty percent of respondents say that both parties should focus on core concerns like inflation and the economy instead of using transgender issues as a political wedge. More than 60 percent of respondents find the ads distasteful. Even among Republican voters, 41 percent find the anti-trans ads “sad and shameful,” according to the survey.

Related: Donald Trump unleashes torrent of transphobic ads in last leg of 2024 election

In contrast, when presented with two hypothetical candidates, 57 percent of voters say they would prefer one who advocates that “the government should stay out of people’s private lives and that there is too much legislation targeting a small minority of the population” compared to a candidate calling for restrictions on transgender health care and participation in sports, which reflects the Republican platform.