51% of Americans oppose allowing boys who identify as female to compete in girls' sports: poll

By Samuel Smith, Deputy Managing Editor Friday, November 15, 2019

Fewer than one-third of Americans and less than half of those who identify as Democrats say they favor allowing boys who identify as female to compete in girls-only sports, according to a recent poll.

The new data released by Rasmussen Reports is from a national telephone and online survey of 1,000 Americans conducted by Pulse Opinion Research between Oct. 31 and Nov. 2. The data includes a margin of error of 3 percentage points. 

When asked if they favor “allowing transgender students to participate on the sports teams of the gender they identify with, letting biological males, for example, play girls’ sports,” only 29 percent of respondents agreed. 

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Meanwhile, 51 percent of all respondents said they oppose transgender participation on sports teams of the opposite sex. About 20 percent of respondents said they are “not sure” about how they feel about this issue. 

While allowing boys who identify as transgender to participate in girls' sports is a controversial agenda item being advanced by Democrats and LGBT activists nationwide, only 42 percent of Democrats say they favor allowing trans-identified athletes to play on sports teams of the opposite sex.  

While 39 percent of Democrats say they oppose such a policy, 18 percent of Democrats responded by saying they were not sure if they oppose or favor. 

Additionally, a majority of one key Democratic voting demographic (57 percent of African Americans) does not favor allowing trans-identified athletes to compete on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.  

Only three out of 10 (31 percent) of African Americans surveyed said they would favor allowing transgender athletes to play on sports teams of the gender they identify with.

Only 13 percent of Republicans said they favor allowing transgender athletes to play on sports teams consistent with their gender identity, while three-quarters of Republican respondents (75 percent) said they oppose.

Forty-five percent of respondents who classified themselves as having “other” political party affiliations said they oppose allowing transgender athletes to play on teams consistent with their gender identity while 28 percent of “other” respondents said they are in favor. Twenty-seven percent of “other” respondents said they weren’t sure.  

The survey also found that women (34 percent) were more likely than men (24 percent) to say they favor allowing transgender athletes to play on sports teams of the gender they identify with. Men (60 percent) were more likely than women (43 percent) to say that they oppose allowing transgender athletes to play on sports teams consistent with their gender identity. 

In a second question to the survey, respondents were asked if they thought the addition of boys and men (who identify as female) to girls’ and women’s sports was likely to change those sports for the better or worse. 

Ten percent of respondents said that such a change would likely make female sports “better,” while 49 percent of respondents said that allowing biological males in girls’ sports would likely make those sports “worse.”

Twenty-four percent said that allowing biological males to compete “will have no impact” and 17 percent said they were “not sure.” 

Women (43 percent) were less likely than men (55 percent) to say that the presence of trans-identified athletes are making  women’s and girls’ sports “worse.” Women (26 percent) were also more likely than men (22 percent) to say that that the presence of biological males in women’s and girls’ sports will “have no impact.”

About one-third of Democrats (33 percent) said they think the addition of biological males to girls’ and women’s sports will be more likely to change those sports for the “worse,” while 32 percent of Democrats believe that it will “have no impact.” 

Seventy-seventy percent of Republicans think that allowing biological males to compete in female sports is likely to make those sports “worse.” 

A plurality of African Americans (45 percent) feel that allowing biological males in female sports is likely to make those sports “worse.” While 25 percent of African Americans believe that allowing biological males in female sports will not have an impact, only 14 percent think it's likely to make those sports “better.” 

The Rasmussen Reports survey comes as critics nationwide have complained that policies in some states and localities allowing trans-identified athletes to compete in female sports puts biologically women and girls at a disadvantage. 

In August, the U.S. Department of Education said it would investigate the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference’s policy that allows male students who identify as female to compete in girls’ high school sporting events. 

The Education Department’s investigation came in response to a complaint filed on behalf of female high school athletes by the conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom.

One of the students involved in the complaint says she missed the cut to qualify for a New England regional track event and missed an opportunity to showcase her talent to college scouts because two male athletes who identify as female finished first and second at a qualifying event she participated in. 

An earlier Rasmussen poll released in June found that only 28 percent of American adults favor allowing trans-identified athletes to compete on teams according to their gender identity. 

The June survey also found that less than one-third (31 percent) of Americans favor allowing trans-identified students to use bathrooms consistent with the opposite sex.