Poll: Voters Favor Parental Rights Over Radical Gender Ideology

Americans of all political stripes agree: Parents have the right to know if their child wants to identify as the opposite sex.

A September Harvard Harris poll found that 87 percent of registered voters in the United States believe parents “have a right to know” if their child wants a sex transition. By political affiliation, 84 percent of Democrats, 91 percent of Republicans, and 85 percent of independents agree.

The survey was conducted from September 12-14 among 2,103 registered voters.

When asked: “Do you think the increase in statistics of children changing their gender is because kids were being suppressed before or because kids are nowadays being encouraged to change their gender?” 60 percent of respondents say children “are being encouraged to change their gender these days.”

Forty percent contend they were “being suppressed before,” a position more popular with Democrats (58 percent), than Republicans (23 percent) and (37 percent) independents. Forty-two percent of Democrats agree that children “are being encouraged to change their gender these days,” along with 77 percent of Republicans and 63 percent of independents.

Despite Americans’ overwhelming rejection of the idea that adherence to gender ideology supersedes parental rights, far-left states are pushing and passing laws that achieve just that. For example, California became the first “sanctuary state” this year for “transgender children” from other states who are seeking drugs and surgeries to alter their physical manifestations of secondary sex characteristics.

Additionally, an organization called Parents Defending Education released a report in August, revealing that more than 1,000 school districts across the United States have policies openly stating that district personnel can or should keep students’ transgender status hidden from their parents. This figure includes 18,335 schools and 10,712,558 students.

Other polling has found that a plurality of American voters believe states should “ban all gender transition treatments for minors and stop discussion of gender ideology in all public schools” and shows that very few voters think children should be allowed to get transgender-related medical procedures, even if the kids have permission from their parents.