U.S. voters across the political spectrum believe the flood of anti-LGTBQ+ legislation nationwide — including the wave specifically aimed at the transgender community — is “excessive, political theater” designed to sow further division in the country and win partisan points.
That’s one of the key findings of a new poll released Monday by Data for Progress which showed that “72% of Democrats, 65% of Independents, and 55% of Republicans think that there is ‘too much legislation’ aimed at limiting the rights of transgender and gay people in America.”
Citing nearly 430 separate bills that have moved or are moving through state legislatures this year, the survey found that the large majority of U.S. voters believe the Republican Party is using such proposals as a “wedge issue” to sow division or gain political advantage.
Writing on the poll’s results, Data for Progress pollsters Erin Thomas, Grace Adcox, Lew Blank, and Isa Alomran argue in a blog post that the Democratic Party as a whole “should be doing more to advocate for queer and trans people” in the face of such relentless and widespread attacks by the GOP.
“Political leaders should not hesitate to call out Republicans on their manipulative political tactics,” the trio writes. “Furthermore, they should use their platform to make the country more aware of queer people and queer issues.”
The poll specifically asked respondents this question and 56% of likely Democratic voters said the party should be doing more while 63% of Independent or third-party voters agreed.
Another thing made clear in the poll is that Republicans are losing the narrative war at a national level with voters even as their state-level assault on trans and gay rights runs at full steam.
According to the survey, 57% of likely voters overall agree “that transgender identities occur naturally when free societies permit individuals to identify outside of societal norms, whereas only 33 percent view transgender identities as a ‘woke’ invention.”
In their conclusion, Thomas, Adcox, and Blank say that GOP lawmakers approving “anti-LGBTQ+ legislation are out of step with the American electorate,” while the majority of likely voters oppose these legislative efforts and will support Democratic politicians and lawmakers “who directly fight” back to oppose them.
“Our polling highlights that knowing trans people and experiencing queer culture significantly improves likely voters’ support for trans and queer rights,” they wrote. “Increasing public awareness and understanding of transgender and queer people shouldn’t solely be the responsibility of trans people.”
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment. We are presently looking for 464 new monthly donors in the next 8 days.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy