probability panel
Pew Research Center
Pew Research Center American Trends Panel Wave 28 (August 2017) & Wave 29 (September 2017), combined - transgender items asked in Wave 29 · Sep 14–28, 2017 · US national
Data flag. STALE SOURCE_URL: cites Pew's Nov 27 2017 religious-lines short read, which contains no total, field dates or n. The 54/44 total is correct but comes from the Nov 8 2017 short read 'Transgender issues sharply divide Republicans, Democrats'.
Methodology
- Pollster
- Pew Research Center independent
- Sponsor
- Pew Research Center
- Fielded
- Sep 14–28, 2017
- Population
- adults
- Sample size
- 4,573
- Sample frame
- probability panel
- Panel
- Pew Research Center American Trends Panel
- Mode
- self-administered online survey (tablets and internet provided to panelists without home internet)
- Margin of error
- not disclosed
- Geography
- US national
- Base notes
- N=4,573 is the set of panelists who responded to BOTH Wave 28 (Aug. 8-21, 2017) and Wave 29 (Sept. 14-28, 2017). The transgender items (TRANSGEND1, TRANSGEND2, TRANSGEND2a, TRANSGEND3) were all asked in Wave 29.
Sources
Verification note. Percentages read directly from Pew's combined W28/W29 transgender topline PDF. Margin of error was not printed on that topline. Registered-voter party breaks for TRANSGEND1 in 2017 come from Pew's June 2024 'Cultural Issues and the 2024 Election' trend chart. || CORRECTION - source_url. The 54/44 split is CONFIRMED, but the DB cites Pew's Nov. 27, 2017 short read 'Views of transgender issues divide along religious lines', and that page does not contain the figure. Retrieved and text-scanned in full this session (HTTP 200 via curl after WebFetch got a 403): it prints only religious subgroup breaks (Christians 63%, religious 'nones' 62% the other way, white evangelicals 84%, Black Protestants 59%, white mainline 55%, Catholics 51/46) and gives no total, no field dates and no sample size. The total 54/44 and the party breaks come from Pew's companion short read of Nov. 8, 2017, 'Transgender issues sharply divide Republicans, Democrats', which is substituted here as the source_url. This matters because 2017 is the anchor year of the most-cited Pew trend in this database.
Figures below are transcribed from these documents. Where they disagree with the source, the source governs.
Questions asked (4)
whether gender is determined by sex assigned at birth
Which statement comes closer to your views, even if neither is exactly right?
Whether someone is a man or a woman is determined by the sex they were assigned at birth
54%
Someone can be a man or a woman even if that is different from the sex they were assigned at birth
44%
No answer
2%
Wording notes: response options randomized | 'even if neither is exactly right' softener | no middle option
neutral — two symmetric statements, both using 'the sex they were assigned at birth'; order randomized
Subgroup figures (9)
knows a transgender person
Next, we'd like to ask you about people who are transgender, that is, people who identify as a gender that is different from the sex they were assigned at birth, like a person born male who now identifies as a woman.
Thinking about the people you know, including yourself, do you personally know anyone who is transgender, or not?
Wording notes: 'including yourself' clause | definition of transgender supplied in preamble
neutral — factual contact item
relationship to the transgender people respondent knows
Thinking about the person or people you know who are transgender, are they... [Check all that apply]
An acquaintance
24%
A close friend
9%
A coworker
7%
A family member
6%
Someone else
2%
Yourself
0.5%
Wording notes: multiple response; percentages based on total N=4,573, not on those who know a trans person
neutral — factual inventory item
whether society has gone too far in accepting transgender people
Which of the following statements comes closer to your feelings?
Our society has NOT GONE FAR ENOUGH in accepting people who are transgender
39%
Our society has GONE TOO FAR in accepting people who are transgender
32%
Our society has been ABOUT RIGHT when it comes to accepting people who are transgender
27%
No answer
2%
Wording notes: 'gone too far' / 'not gone far enough' framing | options 1 and 2 randomized with 'about right' always last
neutral — symmetric too-far/not-far-enough pair with an explicit middle option; note that placing 'about right' always last can depress its selection
Subgroup figures (2)