A strong majority of Americans are against allowing males to play female sports, a new NPR/Ipsos poll found.
Sixty-three percent of 1,028 U.S. adults surveyed are opposed to transgender athletes participating in women and girls’ sports., and 24 percent support the idea. Forty-three percent “strongly oppose” allowing men to play women’s sports, and 20 percent “somewhat oppose.”
Along party lines, 88 percent of Republicans oppose and four percent support allowing transgender athletes to participate in women and girls’ sports. Democrats are more evenly divided, with 41 percent opposing and 46 percent supporting. Sixty-three percent of independent voters oppose and 21 percent support.
The NPR/Ipsos poll also asked respondents about “gender transition medical care” for minors — a softer way of saying puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and irreversible sex change surgeries. According to the survey, 47 percent of voters oppose preventing confused youth from “accessing gender transition medical care,” and 31 percent support.
GOP voters are more supportive of laws banning sex change treatments for minors, 55 percent to 24 percent. Democrats oppose such laws 67 percent to 14 percent, and so do independents, 45 percent to 29 percent.
The NPR/Ipsos poll results on laws related to sex change treatments for minors differ strongly from other recent polls on the topic. A May poll from Summit Ministries/McLaughlin and Associates found that 90 percent of U.S. voters are against minors undergoing permanent sex change procedures and believe they should be required to wait until adulthood. Sixty-four percent said they consider “transgenderism” to be an unhealthy condition.
Another recent poll from the American Principles Project (APP) found that 63 percent of respondents agreed that children are too young to decide for themselves if they are ready to undergo sex change surgery.
The NPR/Ipsos poll also claims to have found that most Americans oppose classifying sex change treatments for minors as “child abuse” — an apparent stab at Texas’s attempt to classify it as such. Forty-five percent of respondents oppose calling sex change treatments for minors “child abuse,” and 26 percent support.
By political affiliation, GOP voters are much more willing to view “gender-affirming care” as child abuse, compared to 13 percent of Democrats, and 23 percent of independent voters.
Overall, another poll released this week shows six out of ten Americans reject radical gender ideology and believe sex is determined by biology.
The poll was conducted between June 10-12, 2022 and has a ±3.3 percent margin of error at the 95 percent confidence level.