Reuters/Ipsos Tracking - Transgender Rights, July 2017 · Jul 26–28, 2017 · US national
Verification note. All wording, party columns and the full methodology statement read directly from the Ipsos topline PDF (downloaded and text-extracted locally). Fielded in the three days immediately following President Trump's July 26, 2017 announcement of the military ban. || field dates, n and credibility intervals from the Ipsos landing page; topline percentages from NBC News coverage of the release. The topline PDF linked on the Ipsos page did not render, so wording is quoted second-hand. || Full 3-page Ipsos/Reuters topline PDF retrieved and text-extracted. Fielded in the days immediately after Trump's 26 July 2017 tweets announcing a transgender military ban - this is the contemporaneous public reaction. FRAME CAUTION: online opt-in / river sample, NOT KnowledgePanel; Ipsos itself states margins of error do not apply and reports a credibility interval instead. Question item codes carry year suffixes (Y16, Y17) indicating some items were first fielded in 2016.
Figures below are transcribed from these documents. Where they disagree with the source, the source governs.
Awareness...Announcement by President Trump banning transgender individuals from serving in the military
Wording notes: item label only; the full interviewer text is not printed in the topline
unclear — the topline prints an abbreviated item label rather than the administered wording, so the framing cannot be judged from the released document
| Group | Yes |
|---|---|
| Democrat | 88% |
| Republican | 86% |
| Independent | 75% |
Have you ever heard of the term transgender?
neutral — plain awareness screen
| Group | Yes |
|---|---|
| Democrat | 97% |
| Republican | 97% |
| Independent | 96% |
And how well would you say that you personally understand what the term 'transgender' means?
Wording notes: self-report of comprehension, not a knowledge test
neutral — standard self-rated familiarity scale with balanced endpoints
| Group | Very well |
|---|---|
| Democrat | 53% |
| Republican | 49% |
| Independent | 47% |
Which of the following comes closest to your opinion?
Wording notes: restrictive option listed first in the topline | no qualifying detail about medical costs, readiness or deployability
neutral — the two alternatives are exact mirror images of one another with an explicit don't-know
| Group | Transgender people should be allowed to serve in the military | Transgender people should not be allowed to serve in the military | Don't know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Democrat | 83% | 8% | 9% |
| Republican | 32% | 49% | 19% |
| Independent | 53% | 32% | 15% |
How, if at all, do you think the decision to ban transgender individuals from serving in the military will impact morale within the armed forces?
Wording notes: presupposes the ban as 'the decision', treating a tweeted announcement as settled policy | asked of a reduced base (n=1,009)
neutral — Improve / no impact / hurt is a symmetric three-point consequence scale with an explicit don't-know. Calling it 'the decision' does presuppose the ban was enacted, which was contested at the time, but the item is about predicted effects rather than approval.
| Group | It will improve morale in the armed forces | It will have no impact on morale | It will hurt morale in the armed forces | Don't know |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democrat | 11% | 29% | 45% | 15% |
| Republican | 29% | 38% | 20% | 13% |
| Independent | 21% | 35% | 23% | 21% |
How, if at all, do you think the decision to ban transgender individuals from serving in the military will impact U.S. military capabilities?
Wording notes: presupposes the ban as 'the decision' | asked of a reduced base (n=1,009)
neutral — Symmetric more-capable / no-impact / less-capable scale with an explicit don't-know option.
| Group | It will make our military more capable | It will have no impact | It will make our military less capable | Don't Know |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democrat | 6% | 39% | 31% | 23% |
| Republican | 25% | 52% | 11% | 12% |
| Independent | 16% | 43% | 22% | 19% |
Please indicate whether you agree or disagree with the following statement.
Transgender people should be allowed to serve in the military.
Wording reconstructed from: item text as quoted in NBC News coverage of the Reuters/Ipsos release; not confirmed against the Ipsos topline PDF
Wording notes: agreement-format item, subject to acquiescence bias
unclear — agree/disagree statements invite acquiescence; wording not verified against the pollster topline
| Group | Agree | Disagree |
|---|---|---|
| Republicans | 32% | 49% |
Every figure on this page is transcribed from the source linked above. How to read this data →