Category: public opinion

More evidence that Republicans are hurting their own electability by pursuing their bigoted agenda, contrary to some older narratives that Democrats should be silent on trans rights to avoid scaring moderate voters:

In the poll, likely voters were asked who they thought should be able to make the final decision on who can access gender affirming care. 54% of respondents stated that the parents of trans youth should make that decision, while 22% said that the decision should belong with the doctors of the trans youth. Only 12% of people answered that the elected state lawmakers should be able to make the decision around whether or not a trans youth should be able to access gender affirming care. Moreover, even Republicans opposed legislative interference in trans care; only 16% of Republicans answered that such decisions should be handled by the legislature.

https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/new-poll-76-say-trans-care-for-trans

Keeping in mind the usual caveats about how surveys can have issues, like people giving opposite answers depending on how a question is worded – this poll from last month shows that most people polled in Kentucky (71%) and even most Republicans (62%) in the poll oppose bills that would force detransition trans youths. This makes sense because those bills are indeed extreme and basic rights and bodily autonomy seem to be increasingly popular. But it also shows that these lawmakers are willing to risk going against the majority to please certain donors or to satisfy their own anti-trans impulses:

A majority of Kentucky voters believe parents — not the state government — should have the final say on if transgender teenagers receive gender-affirming care, a new statewide poll has found. Seventy-one percent of voters said they would oppose a “proposed Kentucky law that would allow the state to overrule parents’ decisions to obtain certain health care for their transgender teenager,” including medications that “can regulate the onset of puberty.” The poll of 625 registered Kentucky voters was conducted by the respected Mason-Dixon Polling and Strategy in January and released by pro-LGBTQ advocacy group the Fairness Campaign on Thursday. The poll’s release comes as Kentucky lawmakers are considering a number of bills that the Fairness Campaign has labeled a part of the “Slate of Hate,” which the group says are harmful to queer and trans people — especially to trans youth.

https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article272581588.html