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Support for birth certificate gender restriction includes 90 percent of Republicans and 72 percent of self-described independents. But only 41 percent of Democrats feel the same way.
A Gallup poll shows 69 percent of Americans want sports segregated based on birth certificates, not gender identity.
A poll shows some two-thirds of Americans want sports events segregated based on gender assigned at birth.
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Gallup conducted a poll that shows public opinion against transgender rights when it comes to sports, even more so than on requirements to list a birth certificate gender on other documents.
Asked if “Transgender athletes should only be allowed to play on sports teams that match their birth gender,” about 69 percent of Americans agreed with the statement. By comparison, only 24 agree that “transgender athletes should be able to play on sports teams that match their current gender identity.”
Support for birth certificate gender restriction includes 90 percent of Republicans and 72 percent of self-described independents. But only 41 percent of Democrats feel the same way.
In all cases, support for sports restrictions was higher than the requirement for documents like passports and birth certificates, but not by much. Around 66 percent of those polled agreed with the statement “People should be required to list their birth sex on government documents such as driver's licenses or passports.”
That includes 89 percent of Republicans, 66 percent of independents, and 38 percent of Democrats.
A slim majority of Democrats, 54 percent, believe individuals should be able to list their current gender identity on government documents.
But even among Democrats, only 45 percent, short of a majority, feel transgender people should be able to play on sports teams that match their identity. About 14 percent of Democrats were unsure.
Respondents were asked between May 1 and May 18.
Gallup has polled Americans on their views on transgender participation in sports since 2021, and has seen a steady decline in support for trans athletes participating in sports matching their gender identity. Four years ago, 62 percent of Americans felt sports participation should depend on gender assigned at birth, but by 2023, that number rose to 69 percent, where it remains. Meanwhile, support for letting athletes play based on gender identity dropped from 34 percent in 2021 to 26 percent in 2023 and to 24 percent now.
President Donald Trump, a Republican, days into his current term signed an executive order banning trans athletes from playing sports based on their gender identity.
But many Democratic leaders have also grown shaky on supporting the rights of trans athletes. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, told a conservative influencer that trans women’s participation in female sports was “deeply unfair” in an interview this year, and then changed rules on participation in events under pressure from the Trump administration.
