Poll finds 71 percent back transgender people in military

By Mark Moore June 20, 2019 | 3:00pm | Updated

​An overwhelming majority of Americans believe transgender men and women should be able to serve in the US military, a survey released Thursday found.

​Seventy-one percent said they favored allowing transgender people to serve, while only 26 percent opposed ​it, a Gallup Poll showed.

​Democrats backed the idea 88 to 11 percent, independents supported it 78 to 20 percent but Republicans opposed it by a 53 to 43 margin — the only group to do so.

The policy also found support among military veterans, 56 to 43 percent, and nonveterans, 73 to 25 percent, men, 64 to 34 percent, and women, 79 to 20 percent.

​It was more popular among those ages 18 to 29 (84 to 15 percent) than those 65 and older (66 to 33 percent). ​

But when asked what bathroom transgender people should use, 51 percent said the restroom that corresponds to their birth gender, while 44 percent said the gender they identify with.

Broken down by political party, 78 percent of Republicans said they should use the bathroom corresponding to their birth gender, 27 percent of Democrats agreed, as did 50 percent of independents.

Sixty-six percent of Democrats said transgender people should use the bathroom associated with their gender identity, while 46 percent of independents and 18 percent of Republicans said so.

​The survey was conducted ​between May 15 and 30 ​before a US appeals court last week allowed President Trump’s ban on transgender people serving to continue.

Trump announced his transgender ban in 2017, saying the military needed to be focused on “decisive and overwhelming victory.”

It reversed a 2016 decision by President Barack Obama that transgender people could serve without fear of being discharged.

The survey polled 1,017 adults and has a plus/minus 4 percentage-point margin of error.