Washington Post University Of Maryland Poll Finds Most Americans Against Trans Athletes Competing In Women S Sports

Even when a growing proportion of Americans report familiarity and tolerance for trans people, Most oppose allowing trans athletes to compete with other women in professional, college and high school, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll. The poll, conducted May 4 to 17 in 1,503 people in the United States, found that 55 percent of Americans oppose allowing trans women and girls to compete with other women and girls in high school, and 58 percent one hundred is the opposite of that for college and professional sports. . About 3 in 10 Americans said trans women and girls should be able to compete at any of these levels, while an extra 15 percent have no opinion. At the youth level, 49 percent are against trans girls competing with other girls, while 33 per cent say they should be allowed to compete and 17 per cent have no opinion. The poll was taken as a growing portion of Americans, especially younger ones, are recognized as trans and the question of whether trans women should compete with cisgender women and girls has become a point of social and political debate. Last week, Louisiana joined at least 17 other states in banning trans women and girls from competing in women’s sports. Much of this legislation across the country was passed last year, led by Republican lawmakers. The Louisiana ban, which applies to all public and some private elementary and junior high schools and colleges, became law after the state’s governor refused to sign it or veto it. The issue has been politicized despite the small number of people identified as trans and the limited number of specific situations in which participation has raised concerns. A Pew Research Center poll released last Tuesday found that 0.6 percent of Americans recognize trans people, but among those aged 18 to 29, the figure rose to 2 percent. An additional 1 percent of Americans said it was non-binary – neither male nor female, or strictly one or the other – a share that increased to 3 percent of people 18 to 29 years old. A Gallup telephone survey in 2021 found that 0.7 percent of adults identified as trans, while a slightly higher percentage identified as gay (1.5 percent), lesbian (1.0 percent), bisexual (4, 0 percent) or other non-heterosexual identity (0.3 percent). Among athletes, the controversy focused mainly on trans women. Critics say they have an unfair natural advantage over cisgender women due to factors such as generally greater muscle mass and longer skeletal frame, bone density and testosterone levels, which can help boost athletic performance. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. The critics too say the bans overestimate the extent of trans girls and women participating in the track. The Post-UMD poll finds that more than two-thirds of Americans, 68 percent, say trans girls would have a competitive edge over other girls if they were allowed to compete with them in youth sports. 30 percent say no one would have an advantage, while 2 percent say other girls would have an advantage. A small majority of 52% say they are “very” or “somewhat” concerned that trans girls’ mental health will suffer if they are not allowed to compete with other girls in youth sports. 48 percent are “not at all” or “not at all” worried about it. Although they are largely opposed to participating in sports, the Post-UMD poll finds Americans’ general attitudes toward trans people more positive than negative. Read poll results after UMD The poll also found that 40 percent of Americans say transgender social acceptance is “good for society,” while 25 percent say it is “bad for society” and another 35 percent say ” it is neither good nor bad. ” The percentage who say acceptance of trans people is bad for society is down from 32 percent in a Pew Research Center survey a year ago. Acceptance of transgender people varies widely depending on age, political tendencies and personal relationships. About 1 in 6 Americans, 16 percent, know a close friend or family member who is trans, and 40 percent say they personally know anyone who is trans, other than acquaintances, according to the poll. Americans who personally know a close friend or family member who is trans are twice as likely to say that greater transgender social acceptance is good for society: 70 percent, compared to 35 percent among those who are not trans. friend or family member. Among those who do not have a trans friend or family member, 38% say trans social acceptance is neither good nor bad, while 28% say it is bad. Nearly two-thirds of Democrats (64 percent) believe that higher transgender social acceptance is good for society, compared with 40 percent for Independents and 14 percent for Republicans. Younger people also report more positive sentiment about the growing acceptance of trans people, with 54 percent of Americans aged 18 to 29 saying it is good for society, compared with 48 percent of Americans in their 30s and 46s. 40 percent of 40-year-olds, 28 percent of them. ages 50 to 64 and 32 percent of people 65 and older. At the same time, less than half of 18- to 29-year-olds say trans women and girls should be able to compete with other athletes at any level. It is possible that the acquaintance and acceptance of trans people could be on a similar trajectory to the acquaintance with gays and lesbians a generation ago. Forty percent of people who say they know a trans person personally reflect the percentage of Americans who said they knew a gay or lesbian person personally in a 1992 CBS News / New York Times poll (42 percent). That percentage rose to 77 percent in a 2010 CBS News poll. Americans’ attitudes toward trans athletes seem malleable, and some polls that ask different questions have yielded conflicting results. Post-UMD results are similar to the results of the 2021 Gallup poll, which showed that 62 percent of Americans said trans athletes should only be allowed to play in sports teams that match their gender and not with gender identity. However, a May 2022 survey by the SSRS found that 59 percent of Americans said they opposed banning trans girls from participating in K-12 girls’ sports, while 41 percent supported the ban. Trans people have become more and more popular in popular culture, from retired Olympian and media personality Caitlin Jenner to the reality TV series “I Am Jazz” for a trans teen. The idea that Americans will be more accepted by trans people as they become more visible to society makes sense to Michael Hanmer, director of research at the Center for Democracy and Citizen Commitment at UMD, who worked with The Post on the research. “A long line of research shows that the knowledge of members of a particular group leads to more positive attitudes towards the group,” Hanmer said. “We see it here, as there is a big increase in the percentage who say that greater acceptance is good for society among those who know a trans person personally.” But, Hanmer added, despite “some evidence of this, when we specifically look at support for allowing trans women and girls to compete with other women and girls … the changes are much smaller, suggesting that additional considerations are involved.” The equality law is a positive step forward for the LGBTQ community. But it came with a swift response from conservative lawmakers. (Video: Monica Rodman, Sarah Hashemi / The Washington Post) Cherisse Villanueva, 34, a pharmacy technician in Honolulu, said she knew more than 10 trans people and believed society should accept them. “Everyone is a human being, no matter how they feel or what they were born with,” he said. But Villanueva said she did not believe trans girls and women should compete with cisgender. “Not to be bad, but biologically they are built like males, even though they identify as females; so of course they would have the advantage of winning.” Villanueva, a tennis player, added that “she is already scared when we play tennis together and there is a male on the other side”. Villanueva said she did not know how to resolve the issue of mental health implications for trans athletes who are not allowed to compete against other women and girls. “This issue is such a dilemma,” he said. “It’s hard to make it equal.” This concern is common even among people who generally support trans people, said Mark Hyman, director of the UMD Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism. “People are becoming more and more aware of the issue and are aware of the journey that trans people make, but the idea that athletes born of a particular gender are competing lags behind it.” Even the teammates of Lia Thomas, the University of Pennsylvania transgender swimmer who won a national championship, have expressed reservations, Hyman said. “They fully supported the surgery and its course, but they were opposed to competing in the women’s team, so from a practical point of view this is more proof that there is significant repulsion,” she said. “There is a significant boost against trans athletes competing. “The results of my research suggest that this is a factor in how people react to it.” The poll was conducted online from May 4 to 17, 2022, on a random national sample of 1,503 adults by the Washington Post and the University of Maryland Shirley Povich Sports Center …