
Most Americans believe that it’s a “problem” that Republicans are transphobic.
A new YouGov poll asked Americans whether they thought that certain issues were a “problem” for either party. 44% said that transphobia was “a major problem” among Republicans, and another 24% said they thought it was “a minor problem.” Only 32% of respondents said it wasn’t a problem.
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Transphobia was the second most likely issue to be labeled a problem by respondents, after “hostility toward immigrants.” “Tolerance of political violence,” “conspiracy thinking,” “white supremacy,” “homophobia,” and “fascism” followed closely behind.
Oddly, 40% of respondents said that “transgender ideology” was “a major problem” for Republicans, and another 20% said it was “a minor problem.” 41% said that they didn’t think it was a problem at all for Republicans.
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For Democrats, “tolerance of political violence,” “wokeness,” “elitism,” “transgender ideology,” and “gender ideology” topped their list of major problems. Misogyny, transphobia, homophobia, and hostility toward immigrants were all close to the bottom of the list.
The poll involved 1,107 U.S. adult citizens, interviewed from December 30 to January 1. They were also asked if they had an overall favorable opinion of the Democratic and Republican parties, and their views were fairly balanced: 39% had a favorable view of Democrats, the same percentage that had a favorable view of Republicans.
The polling falls in line with other polls in the past two years that showed that voters do not care about curtailing transgender people’s rights as much as Republicans do. In October 2024, Blueprint found that trans issues were among the least important for men in all age groups. A 2024 HRC poll found that only 5% of voters were concerned with gender-affirming care.
An October 2025 poll found that only 3% of Virginia voters thought trans rights were a top concern, which was particularly salient because GOP candidate Winsome Earle-Sears spent a large part of her campaign talking about trans issues and accusing her opponent of supporting trans rights, and she lost her off-year election by a large margin.
“As race after race was called, Democrats won by wide margins in contests where anti-trans rhetoric dominated the campaign—a stunning rebuke of anti-trans politics,” wrote trans journalist Erin Reed about the 2025 elections. “For all the centrist consultants urging Democrats to ‘moderate’ or sacrifice transgender people for political gain, the results suggest the opposite: conviction, not capitulation, is what wins.”
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