The American public is increasingly rejecting the LGBTQ agenda, as a series of new polls show a growing majority of Americans agree that attempting to change your gender is “morally wrong,” that only two genders exist, and that women should not be forced to compete against men in sports.
A total of 55% of Americans believe “changing one’s gender” is immoral — up four points from 2021, according to a Gallup poll released Monday. Only registered Democrats became more likely over the last two years to consider transgender identity morally acceptable.
The poll “contains encouraging news for those who believe in an objective moral order and common sense,” David Closson, director of the Center for Biblical Worldview at Family Research Council, told The Washington Stand.
Americans are also more willing to declare that the human race consists of only two sexes, male and female. About two out of three Americans (65%) believe there are only two genders, a 6% rise, while those who believe in a gender spectrum decreased six points (to 34%), found a separate poll conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI).
Similarly, the transgender agenda on sports suffered a loss, as more than two out of three Americans (69%) now believe athletes should not have to compete against members of the opposite sex who identify as transgender, up seven points in two years. “Laws that restrict participation for transgender athletes are generally in line with U.S. public opinion on the issue,” because “Americans view transgender sports participation more through a lens of competitive fairness than transgender civil rights,” reported Gallup.
“This poll demonstrates that the Left has pushed their woke agenda way too far, and the American people are now emphatically rejecting it. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. After all, we’re suddenly talking about ‘pregnant men,’ boys in girls’ sports, and sex changes for children,” Jon Schweppe, director of policy and government affairs at the American Principles Project, told The Washington Stand.
Even among the most liberal generation in U.S. history, 57% majority of Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2010) now believes in the gender binary — increasing 14 points in two years. “The overreach of the Left in areas related to women’s sports and policies that allow children to be legally pumped with puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones is resulting in a predictable backlash,” noted Closson.
These lopsided majorities consist of a diverse coalition of age groups, ethnic backgrounds, and virtually every religious designation. The belief in two genders is held by a majority of white evangelical Protestants (92%), LDS members (82%), Hispanic Protestants (81%), Black Protestants (73%), white Catholics (69%), white mainline Protestants (67%), and most non-Christian believers (55%).
“It appears that most denominations, regardless of racial makeup, are retaining their position on core issues related to biblical sexual ethics,” Closson told TWS. “Additionally, the demographic breakdown of these surveys shows that the perceived wisdom that ‘demographics is destiny’ for the Democratic Party may be premature.”
Jewish Americans were the least likely group to believe in only two genders, falling two points below the religious unaffiliated (44% vs. 46%).
The only groups of Americans where a majority believes in more than two genders are Democrats, Jews (both 56%), and the religiously unaffiliated (53%). Yet Democrats are as likely to strongly believe there are only two genders (28%) as to strongly believe there is a range of gender identities (27%), and to believe trans-identifying men should not compete in women’s sports (48% to 47%).
“The more the public sees it, the more it opposes gender ideology,” wrote Jay Richards, a senior research fellow in religious liberty and civil society at The Heritage Foundation — even when pollsters substitute the confusing term “birth gender” for “sex.
The number of Americans between the ages of 30 to 49 who call themselves socially conservative also jumped 13 points during that time frame (from 22% in 2021 to 35% this year), according to yet another Gallup poll. Overall, the number of U.S. citizens who called themselves social conservatives rose to the highest level in a decade: 38%, compared to 29% who rated themselves liberals. All age cohorts from age 18 to 64 became more socially conservative over the last two years.
“The shift is mostly due to increasing social conservatism among Republicans, at a time when social issues such as transgender rights, abortion and other hot-button concerns are prominent in the national public debate,” Gallup explained in a report accompanying the survey results.
Although campaign strategists advise candidates to field positions that align with the bulk of American voters, including hefty majorities of ethnic minority voters, “[t]here are still some Republicans out there who will say they don’t want to engage on culture war issues because they’re ‘too divisive,’” wrote Nate Hochman, currently a speechwriter for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R). He highlighted former House Speaker Paul Ryan’s comments calling such issues “polarizing” for voters. “In reality, the opposite is often true.”
“In the political arena, Republicans should take note. Wokeness on social issues is an extreme liability for the Democrats,” Schweppe told TWS. “If GOP candidates hope to have success in 2024 and beyond, they need to make this one of their top attacks in their campaign ads.”
Conservatives “cannot afford to let this advantage go to waste like we did in the 2022 midterms.”
