Muhamad Yehia.. Cairo
More people approve of Trump’s handling of transgender issues than his job performance overall. People are more likely to oppose than support public health insurance programs like Medicare or Medicaid covering gender-affirming medical treatments.
Around two-thirds (68%) of the public say that whether someone is a man or a woman is determined by the sex they were assigned at birth. About half of Democrats feel someone’s identity can differ from their sex at birth – significantly higher than the share of independents (22%) or Republicans (11%) who feel that way.
Two-thirds of the public oppose public health insurance programs like Medicare or Medicaid from covering gender-affirming medical treatment, such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy for people under age 19 who are transgender or nonbinary. Majorities of independents and Republicans oppose coverage. More Democrats oppose (44%) than support coverage (30%).
About half of adults oppose public health insurance coverage for gender affirming care for transgender or nonbinary people aged 19 and older. Democrats are more likely to favor than oppose these treatments, but still 30% are opposed. A large majority of Republicans oppose them. And independents are more likely to oppose than support, though 35% are neutral on treatments for adults.
While there is little support for public health insurance covering gender affirming care for younger people, there is less opposition for gender affirming care in general. Still, 46% want to see treatment for people under the age of 19 banned no matter who is paying for it.
The public is also more likely to favor than oppose requiring public school teachers to tell parents if their children are identifying as transgender or nonbinary at school. And 55% are opposed to allowing transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity in public schools.
The public is more closely divided on whether transgender men and women should be allowed to serve in the military with 37% who favor allowing them to serve, 26% who oppose, and 36% who are neutral on the issue.
About half of adults approve of President Trump’s handling of transgender issues. His performance on the issue is about 10 percentage points higher than his overall job approval. He garners more support from Democrats and Republicans on this issue than overall performance.
Forty-one percent approve of how Trump is handling his job as president overall, and 57% disapprove. Republicans are much likely to approve of Trump’s job performance (83%), while 90% of Democrats disapprove.
The nationwide poll was conducted May 1-5, 2025, using the AmeriSpeak® Panel, the probability-based panel of NORC at the University of Chicago. Online and telephone interviews using landlines and cell phones were conducted with 1,175 adults. The overall margin of sampling error is +/- 4.0 percentage points.