Transitioning Opinion?

Abstract

Abstract Few public opinion surveys addressed transgender rights prior to 2015, but scholarly attention to these issues began to proliferate with a series of surveys from 2015 and 2016 that identified a number of important variables shaping attitudes toward transgender people and policies. Yet, the political environment surrounding transgender rights has changed significantly since 2015, with increasing public attention to these issues, more prominent position taking by partisan political figures, and substantial shifts in public policy on a wide variety of transgender issues. We examine a wide range of survey items throughout this period to explore how public opinion has evolved over time. Further, using national surveys from 2015 and 2020, we explore whether and how the structure of public opinion may have changed. Our analyses reveal growing support for transgender rights, the increasing importance of political orientations and elite cues in shaping opinion, and substantial variation in attitudes across issues.