mixed-mode probability
Lifeway Research
Lifeway Research survey of U.S. Protestant pastors on gender identity and gender change · Sep 2, 2020 – Oct 2020 · US national
Methodology
- Pollster
- Lifeway Research advocacy_right
- Sponsor
- Lifeway Research
- Commissioned by
- Lifeway Christian Resources (Southern Baptist Convention)
- Fielded
- Sep 2, 2020 – Oct 2020
- Population
- U.S. Protestant pastors (senior/sole pastors of Protestant churches)
- Sample size
- 1,007
- Sample frame
- mixed-mode probability
- Mode
- mixed - 502 telephone interviews and 505 online interviews with Protestant pastors
- Margin of error
- +/- 3.4 percentage points
- Weighting
- responses weighted by region and church size to reflect the population of U.S. Protestant churches
- Geography
- US national
- Base notes
- 502 completed by telephone and 505 online.
Sources
Verification note. Percentages, denominational breaks and methodology read from the Lifeway Research release. Lifeway did not publish the literal item text in the release, only its own description of the two agree/disagree statements, so question_text_verbatim is false. The release did not report the 'know someone who is transgender' figure in the version retrieved (48% appears in a Lifeway search snippet and a Newsweek write-up but was not confirmed against the release text, so it is not recorded here). || Percentages, denominational breaks and methodology read from the Lifeway Research release. Lifeway did not publish the literal item text, only its own description of the agree/disagree statements, so question_text_verbatim is false throughout. The 'know someone who is transgender' figures (48/41/11) come from Lifeway's own reporting of this survey but were retrieved via a search result rather than confirmed in the release body.
Figures below are transcribed from these documents. Where they disagree with the source, the source governs.
Questions asked (3)
pastors on the morality of identifying with a gender different from birth sex
It is morally wrong for an individual to identify with a gender different from the biological sex they were born with. [Strongly agree / Agree / Disagree / Strongly disagree / It's not a moral issue]
Wording reconstructed from: Lifeway Research release describes the item but does not print the literal wording; this text reconstructs Lifeway's own description of the statement and its response set.
Wording notes: morality framing | restrictive direction only | offers a 'not a moral issue' escape option
loaded_terms — the statement is presented only in the restrictive direction and uses 'biological sex they were born with' as the baseline; this is a survey of clergy by a denominational research arm, so the framing matches the sponsor's doctrinal position
Subgroup figures (8)
pastors on the morality of medical gender transition
It is morally wrong for an individual to physically change their gender through surgery or hormones. [Strongly agree / Agree / Disagree / Strongly disagree / It's not a moral issue]
Wording reconstructed from: Lifeway Research release describes the item but does not print the literal wording.
Wording notes: morality framing | restrictive direction only | offers a 'not a moral issue' escape option
loaded_terms — asked only in the restrictive direction, consistent with the sponsoring denomination's stated doctrine
Subgroup figures (8)
pastors who personally know a transgender person
Do you know someone who is transgender? [Yes / No / Not that I know of]
Wording reconstructed from: Lifeway Research reporting of the item; literal wording not published. Fielding attribution to the Sept 2 - Oct 1, 2020 pastor survey is inferred from Lifeway's own write-ups, which report the figure alongside the gender-morality items.
Yes
48%
No
41%
Not that I know of
11%
Wording notes: three-way response set separates a firm 'no' from 'not that I know of'
neutral — standard social-contact item