Poll: Majority of Americans Oppose Transgender Athletes Competing in Women’s Sports

Lia Thomas
Kathryn Riley/Getty Images

Despite the left-wing media’s near universal support and celebration of transgender athletes, a new poll finds that most Americans do not support trans athletes competing under their chosen gender, especially in female sports.

A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll conducted May 4 through the 17th, finds that 55 percent are opposed to males who claim to have “transitioned” to being females competing with natural-born girls in high school sports and 58 percent oppose it in college sports.

The poll also found that three in ten respondents said they oppose trans “women” from competing with girls in all cases, the Washington Post reported.

Indeed the poll asked respondents if they think trans girls/women should be allowed to play in several categories, and in each case, the answer was overwhelmingly “no.” 58 percent said trans athletes should be excluded from pro sports (28 percent said they should), 58 percent said they should not be allowed in college (28 percent said yes), 55 percent in high school (30 percent disagreed), and 49 percent said they should not be allowed in youth sports (33 percent said they should), the paper added.

Respondents also told the pollsters that trans females have an unfair physical advantage over natural-born females.

The poll found that “over two-thirds of Americans, 68 percent, say that transgender girls would have a competitive advantage over other girls if they were allowed to compete with them in youth sports; 30 percent say neither would have an advantage, while 2 percent say other girls would have an advantage.”

The poll was closely split, though, on the effect of banning trans athletes, with 52 percent saying they worried that a ban might cause “mental health” problems for men claiming to be women while 48 percent said it was not a concern.

The poll also found that 41 percent felt it was generally good for society to allow trans people to express themselves, and to be welcomed in society while a smaller 35 percent said that it was neither good nor bad for society. Only 25 percent said it is detrimental for society to push the transgender agenda.

The poll was conducted on a random national sample of 1,503 adults, by the Washington Post and the University of Maryland’s Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism and Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement. The survey has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

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