A plurality of Iowans supports requiring students to use bathrooms according to one’s birth gender regardless of their gender identity, according to the latest Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll.
The poll found that 47 percent support such a measure while 42 percent are opposed to the idea. Eleven percent of those surveyed were not sure where they stand on the issue.
The survey’s sample size was 775 Iowans aged 18 or older with a 3.5-percent margin of error.
Those surveyed mostly fell along partisan lines, with 80 percent of Republicans in favor of the measure and 14 percent opposed. Among Democrats, 15 percent were in favor of the measure, while 71 percent opposed it.
The findings come weeks after a bathroom bill in Iowa failed to advance in the statehouse. The bill required people in Iowa schools to use bathrooms according to the sex listed on their birth certificate.
The bill, Senate File 224, passed through a state Senate subcommittee but failed to gain any traction after that.