online opt-in
Civiqs
Daily Kos/Civiqs National Politics Survey, March 2023 · Mar 11–14, 2023 · US national
Methodology
- Pollster
- Civiqs independent
- Sponsor
- Daily Kos
- Commissioned by
- Daily Kos
- Fielded
- Mar 11–14, 2023
- Population
- registered voters
- Sample size
- 1,212
- Sample frame
- online opt-in
- Panel
- Civiqs research panel
- Mode
- online - selected members of the Civiqs research panel emailed a personalized survey link
- Margin of error
- +/- 2.9% at the 95% confidence level, accounting for the design effect
- Weighting
- weighted by age, race, gender, education, party identification, and region to be representative of the population of registered voters in the United States
- Geography
- US national
Sources
Verification note. Toplines and Democrat/Republican/Independent crosstabs read directly from the Civiqs/Daily Kos March 2023 banner book PDF (27 pp.) linked from the Civiqs report page. Question 6 of the banner book (bodily autonomy over one's own medical decisions) is omitted here because its wording does not name transgender people or gender identity. || Question wordings, percentages, field dates, n and MOE read from the Civiqs report page. Civiqs also runs continuous daily trackers whose dated endpoint values are published on the interactive civiqs.com/results dashboard; that dashboard is JavaScript-only and timed out on repeated automated fetches, so the tracker series are recorded in known_gaps rather than here.
Figures below are transcribed from these documents. Where they disagree with the source, the source governs.
Questions asked (14)
whether gender is fixed at birth or open to expression
Which of these statements comes closest to your view: [Gender is fixed and assigned at birth as either male or female / Gender is open to different expressions, and individuals should have the freedom to identify as something other than the gender assigned to them at birth / Neither / Something else or unsure]
Gender is fixed at birth
55%
Gender is open to expression
36%
Something else or unsure
6%
Neither
3%
Wording notes: offers 'Neither' and 'Something else or unsure' escape options | paired statements of roughly equal length
neutral — both statements are affirmatively stated and non-pejorative; two non-substantive outs are offered
Subgroup figures (19)
public libraries carrying books about gay and transgender people and history
Should public libraries in your area be allowed to carry books that include information about gay and transgender people and history?
Wording notes: 'allowed to carry' frames the restrictive position as prohibition
neutral — simple yes/no on permission; no argument offered on either side
Subgroup figures (9)
school classroom and library books with LGBT characters
Do you believe that classrooms and libraries in your local school district should contain books with characters who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender?
Yes
48%
No
39%
Yes, but fewer than there are now
8%
Unsure
5%
Wording notes: offers an intermediate 'yes, but fewer' option that has no symmetric 'yes, but more' counterpart
tilts_restrictive — the only qualified option offered ('yes, but fewer than there are now') runs in the restrictive direction; no corresponding 'yes, and more' choice
Subgroup figures (12)
whether teachers may answer student questions about gay and transgender issues
Do you think teachers in public schools should be allowed to answer questions from students about gay and transgender issues?
Wording notes: student-initiated framing ('answer questions from students') rather than instruction
neutral — neutral permission wording; the student-initiated framing is a real feature of the policy debate rather than an argument
Subgroup figures (9)
parental notification when a student uses a different gender identity at school
Do you think that teachers should be required to tell students' parents if their child is using a different gender identity at school?
Yes, tell students' parents
56%
It depends on the situation
26%
No, let it stay at school
15%
Unsure
3%
Wording notes: offers 'it depends on the situation' as an explicit middle option | 'required to tell' tests a mandate, not permission
neutral — both directions labeled affirmatively and a contingency option supplied; the mandate framing is the policy actually at issue
Subgroup figures (12)
legal consequences for doctors answering patient questions about transgender concerns
Do you think doctors should be allowed to answer questions from patients about transgender concerns without the threat of legal consequences?
Wording notes: 'without the threat of legal consequences' supplies a consequence frame favorable to the permissive answer
tilts_affirming — the restrictive option is defined as exposing doctors to legal threat for merely answering a question, which loads the item toward 'yes'
Subgroup figures (9)
physicians providing gender-affirming health care to transgender youth
Do you think physicians should be allowed to provide healthcare to transgender youth that recognizes and supports their gender identity?
Wording notes: 'recognizes and supports their gender identity' rather than naming specific interventions | no mention of puberty blockers, hormones or surgery
tilts_affirming — the care is described in supportive abstract terms and no specific irreversible intervention is named, which typically produces more permissive results than treatment-specific wording
Subgroup figures (15)
parents' authority over transgender minors' care vs. government limits on treatment
Which of these statements comes closest to your view: [Parents of children who identify as transgender should be allowed to make the healthcare decisions for their kids that they think are best / There should be government limits on the types of treatment and care that doctors are allowed to provide to transgender kids / Neither / Something else or unsure]
Health care should be up to parents
49%
Government should limit treatments
26%
Something else or unsure
14%
Neither
10%
Wording notes: restrictive side is labeled 'government limits' | affirming side is framed as parental decision-making
tilts_affirming — the ban position is worded as government intervention while the access position is worded as parental freedom; both are real framings but they are not symmetric in valence
Subgroup figures (12)
right to use gender pronouns matching personal identity
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: "Everyone has the right to use the gender pronouns that match their personal identity."
Wording notes: agree/disagree format is subject to acquiescence bias | 'right to use' is a rights frame | asks about the speaker's own pronouns, not compelled use by others
tilts_affirming — single-statement agree/disagree with a rights frame invites acquiescence; it measures self-description rather than the contested question of others' obligation to use those pronouns
Subgroup figures (12)
right to use pronouns matching personal identity
Everyone has the right to use the gender pronouns that match their personal identity
Wording notes: framed as a universal 'right' | agree/disagree single statement
tilts_affirming — 'Everyone has the right to...' is an affirmative-rights framing with no counter-statement offered, and agree/disagree formats invite acquiescence
Subgroup figures (3)
whether physicians should provide gender-affirming care to transgender youth
Should physicians provide gender-affirming care to transgender youth?
Wording reconstructed from: item as summarised on the Civiqs report page; the full stem was not printed in the retrievable text
Wording notes: frames the actor as physicians rather than as government or parents
tilts_affirming — preceded by a near-consensus item that adults hold ultimate authority over their own medical decisions and by an item about doctors answering questions without legal consequence, both of which prime a clinical-autonomy frame
Subgroup figures (3)
whether doctors may answer patient questions about transgender health without legal consequences
Should doctors be able to freely answer questions about transgender health issues from their patients, without legal consequences?
Wording reconstructed from: item as summarised on the Civiqs report page
Wording notes: 'without legal consequences' supplies a strong negative cue for the No option
tilts_affirming — the clause about legal consequences makes disagreement equivalent to endorsing prosecution of doctors for answering questions, which is why it produces an 84% consensus
Subgroup figures (1)
whether schools should tell parents about a student's gender identity
Should a school tell a student's parents about the student's gender identity, or keep it private?
Wording reconstructed from: item as summarised on the Civiqs report page
Tell parents
56%
It depends
26%
Keep it private
15%
Wording notes: an explicit 'it depends' option is offered, which absorbs a quarter of responses
neutral — both alternatives are stated symmetrically and a middle option is offered
adult authority over their own medical decisions (context item for gender-affirming care battery)
Adults should always hold the ultimate authority over their own medical decisions
Wording notes: does not name transgender people; recorded because Civiqs fielded and reported it as the framing item for the gender-affirming care battery
tilts_affirming — an abstract autonomy principle stated with 'always' produces near-consensus agreement and then frames the trans-specific items that follow
Subgroup figures (3)