Poll: Voters Believe Transgender Athletes Should Play on Teams Matching Birth Sex

Americans believe, by a two-to-one margin, that transgender athletes should play on sports teams that match their birth sex, a new Public Opinion Strategies poll found. 

Out of 1000 registered voters surveyed nationally on March 25-28, 60 percent say they believe transgender athletes should only be allowed to play on teams that match biological reality. The margin of error is ± 3.53 percentage points. Broken down by political affiliation, Republicans agree that transgender athletes should only play on the team that aligns with their birth sex 85 percent to 7 percent, and independents agree 60 percent to 23 percent. Unsurprisingly, Democrats “aren’t as sure,” with 39 percent in agreement and 36 percent in opposition. 

The poll results come amid a rather contentious public debate — mostly between Republicans and far-left Democrats and activists — about what constitutes “male” and “female” and whether men who identify as women have an advantage over actual women in athletics. The debate has been spurred on by real-life manifestations of leftist “gender identity” ideology, a prime example being male University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who has taken titles from actual women because of his biological advantage.

While Democrats have been willing to let go of some other unpopular policy positions to save themselves at the polls, many in the party have not yet reconciled with the reality that voters largely reject the force-feeding of transgender ideology.

As Breitbart News previously reported:

Many progressives have cheered as activists claimed sports is about personal liberation, not fairness: portrayed opposition to cross-sex athletes as akin to racism, insisted that young children be trained in transgender claims, declared their inability to define women, and organized high-pressure re-education campaigns on teachers to embrace the ideology.

In contrast, at least a dozen GOP-states so far have proposed or passed laws that ban men and boys who identify as women in girls from playing on women’s sports teams in schools and colleges. Ultimately, the ability to define a basic objective truth is already impacting the 2022 midterm elections. 

Surveys and polls show that activists’ push to coerce voters into not believing their own eyes is fueling public support for a clear, biology-based definition of women. For example, Democrats have enjoyed a multi-decade trust advantage on education issues. But a March 23 poll showed that “Forty-three percent (43%) of voters trust Republicans more to deal with education issues while 36% trust Democrats more.” The poll of 1,000 likely voters was conducted on March 17-20 by Rasmussen Reports.

Neil Munro contributed to this report. 

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Twitter.