It’s Pride Month, and this month more than ever before, it’s difficult to ignore the massive attacks against the LGBTQ+ community – specifically on transgender people. In fact, Republicans have escalated their anti-trans rhetoric in recent years. Republican candidates spent over $50 million on advertising that vilified trans people and have introduced more than 500 anti-trans laws in the first six months of 2023 – more than 25 times the number of laws they introduced in 2015.
A few of our top researchers looked into how voters feel about this, and we found critical insights. The data shows:
- Voters oppose these inflammatory attempts to discriminate. Majorities oppose many of the anti-trans laws being elevated by Republicans right now, with a full 60% opposing bans on gender-affirming care. And majorities support passing laws to ban discrimination based on gender identity.
- Democrats have an opportunity to change the narrative. Democrats are more trusted than Republicans on LGBTQ issues and to care for our children. Further, a generic Democrat actually grows their lead over a generic Republican when the Democrat opposes these laws, and the Republican supports them.
- Voters want to see politicians addressing inflation, not attacking trans people. Just one percent of voters say our elected officials should focus on trans people as a top issue, with the vast majority of voters – even many Republicans – saying Republican politicians have gone too far.
The recent and overwhelming attack on our friends in the transgender community cannot be tolerated. GSG stands with LGBTQ+ people nationwide and will continue to work alongside our partners in the fight against discrimination.