Most Americans Oppose Allowing Transgender Women to Play Competitive Women’s Sports, New UMD-Post Poll Finds

The latest poll conducted by the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement (CDCE)—housed within the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences—the Phillip Merrill College of Journalism's Shirley Povich Center, and The Washington Post revealed that most Americans oppose allowing transgender female athletes to play sports against other girls and women at the professional, college and high school levels.

Conducted online May 4-17 using a random national sample of 1,503 adults, the poll also revealed that significantly more Americans view greater societal acceptance of transgender people as good for society than those who see it as bad, especially among people who have a close friend or family member who is transgender.

“A long line of research shows that knowing members of a particular group leads to more positive attitudes toward the group. We see that here,” CDCE Research Director Michael Hanmer said. “There is some evidence of this when we look specifically at support for allowing transgender women and girls to compete with other women and girls. But the shifts are much smaller, suggesting there are additional considerations involved.”

Fifty-five percent of respondents said transgender women should not be allowed to compete against other girls at the high school level, 58% said they should not be able to compete against other women at the college level and 58% said they should not be able to compete against other women at the pro level. A smaller 49% opposed allowing transgender girls to participate in youth sports, while 33% supported this.

“People increasingly have an awareness of the issue and are empathetic toward the journey that transgender people are on, but the notion that they are competing against athletes that are born a particular sex are lagging behind that,” Povich Center Director Mark Hyman told The Washington Post.

"One of the issues that the poll results illuminate is the need to consider in more depth the mental health consequences for transgender athletes in their fight for equity and inclusion," added Stella Rouse, CDCE Director. "While the results suggest that people are inclined to generally be more accepting of those who identify as transgender, they are less willing to extend this acceptance to athletic competition."

Additional results from the poll—one of two that the CDCE, Povich Center and The Washington Post team up to produce each year to provide students with troves of proprietary data, opportunities to choose poll subjects, and informative panels and discussions based on poll results—were published by The Post on Tuesday morning. 

Read The Washington Post's full analysis here 

About the CDCE and the Shirley Povich Center 

The CDCE educates, informs, and engages citizens and scholars in order to improve democratic governance. CDCE does so by partnering with organizations like The Washington Post to bridge the gap between academic research and practical solutions to problems related to the role of government and its citizens as equal partners.

The Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism prepares students to be innovators and leaders in all facets of sports media. The center's unique, experiential curriculum and public programs elevate and amplify discussion of race, gender, politics and the world—just as Shirley Povich did each morning in The Washington Post.

Photo by PeopleImages by iStock.