A new poll conducted exclusively for Heat Street by Rasmussen on a sample of 1,000 adults between May 15-16 found that large majorities of Americans oppose students using school bathrooms that don’t match their biological sex.
The poll sample was made up of adult men and women, with 25% self-identifying as Republicans, 36% as Democrats, and 38% as Other.
To the question “Do you favor or oppose allowing transgender students to use the bathrooms of the opposite biological sex?,“ 51% of respondents declared they opposed it, while only 33% were in favor. The highest level of opposition came from those 65+ years of age, among whom 61% were opposed. Even among those 18-39, however, 45% were opposed versus 37% in favor.
Republicans showed the strongest opposition, with 75% opposing students using bathrooms not associated with their biological sex. Some 50% of Democrats favored allowing trans students to use bathrooms aligned with their gender identity instead of their sex, while 36% of Democrats opposed it.
When asked “Who should be responsible for setting bathroom policies in elementary and secondary schools?,” 41% of total respondents declared it should be “local government,” and only 9% of Republican respondents declared that these decisions should be the federal government’s responsibility.
| Local government | 41% |
| State government | 25% |
| Federal government | 24% |
These poll results come only days after the Obama administration issued a decree to every public school district in the country asking them to allow students to use the bathrooms they felt most comfortable with, lest they face a federal lawsuit.
“This guidance gives administrators, teachers, and parents the tools they need to protect transgender students from peer harassment and to identify and address unjust school policies,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement.
The mega retailer Target has also become a battleground in the unfolding “bathroom wars,” after it publicly took a stand for inclusive bathroom policies last month.
The American Family Association’s President Tim Wildmon — the man behind the petition asking customers to boycott the store “until it makes protecting women and children a priority” — personally delivered a copy of the petition to Target’s headquarters in Minneapolis on Wednesday before meeting face-to-face with Target executives to discuss the matter.
An update posted on the AFA’s website said that Target listened to a proposal that the retailer should provide gender-neutral, single-occupancy bathrooms for transgender customers — but rejected it while reaffirming Target’s commitment to “diversity and inclusion.”