probability panel
Pew Research Center
Pew Research Center American Trends Panel Wave 163 (February 2025) - TRANSGEND6 randomized wording experiment (Form 1 / Form 2) · Feb 10–17, 2025 · US national
Methodology
- Pollster
- Pew Research Center independent
- Sponsor
- Pew Research Center
- Fielded
- Feb 10–17, 2025
- Population
- adults
- Sample size
- 5,097
- Sample frame
- probability panel
- Panel
- American Trends Panel
- Mode
- self-administered web (n=4,912) and live telephone interviewing (n=185); fielded by SSRS for Pew Research Center
- Margin of error
- +/- 1.6 percentage points for the full sample of 5,097; Pew does not publish a separate margin of error for the n=2,565 Form 1 half sample
- Weighting
- Base weight reflecting probability of recruitment, calibrated to population benchmarks and trimmed at the 1st and 99th percentiles. Weighting dimensions: age (detailed); age x gender; education x gender; education x age; race/ethnicity x education; race/ethnicity x gender; race/ethnicity x age; born inside vs. outside the U.S. among Hispanics and Asian Americans; years lived in the U.S.; census region x metropolitan status (2023 ACS); volunteerism (2023 CPS Volunteering & Civic Life Supplement); voter registration (2020 CPS Voting and Registration Supplement); frequency of internet use; religious affiliation; party affiliation x race/ethnicity; party affiliation x age; party affiliation among registered voters (2024 NPORS). Split-ballot items were weighted within form.
- Geography
- US national
- Base notes
- Items b (bathrooms) and d (athletes) were asked only of Form 1, n=2,565. Form 2 received a different wording of both items that Pew has never published. The questionnaire codebook shows X_FORM (1=Form 1, 2=Form 2) with the note 'Flag to randomly assign panelists to one of two forms (Form 1, Form 2) and weight within form.' Separately, a subset of W163 respondents (n=284) had been asked TRANSGEND6 in January 2025 as part of W160; their answers were combined into the reported totals for the ASK ALL items.
Sources
Verification note. Form 1 wording and full five-point distributions read directly from the Pew W163 final topline PDF (pp. 1-2) and the W163 final questionnaire PDF (pp. 1-2), both downloaded and text-extracted this session. THE FORM 2 ARM IS NOT PUBLISHED. Searched and came up empty: the W163 topline PDF, the W163 final questionnaire PDF, the W163 methodology PDF, the Feb. 26, 2025 short read, the Aug. 11, 2026 short read that re-uses these numbers, and Pew's Decoded methods blog (its only wording-experiment post in this subject area, 'How question wording affects polling on the morality of homosexuality,' May 6, 2026, concerns 'homosexuality' vs. 'homosexual behavior' and never mentions transgender items). Pew discloses the experiment only in identical footnotes on the questionnaire and topline and says the alternate arm was run 'for experimental purposes only.' The Form 2 wording is presumably recoverable only from the restricted W163 dataset, which requires a Pew data-download account. || item wordings and toplines read from the Pew short read; oppose percentages published for only some items; party breaks published only for the minors' medical-care item || Response-category percentages read directly from the W163 final topline PDF; NET favor/oppose figures and the party figures come from Pew's own Feb. 26, 2025 and Aug. 11, 2026 short reads. TRANSGEND1 for this wave is recorded from the trend table in the Wave 183 typology topline, since it was not printed on the February 2025 topline. NOT RETRIEVED: the alternate experimental wording used for the Form 2 half on the bathroom and athlete items - Pew's questionnaire notes its existence but does not publish it. || Toplines read from Pew's February 26, 2025 short read. Fielded in the two weeks after the February 5, 2025 executive order on transgender athletes. Party point estimates were described only as a 43-to-50-point gap on the page fetched, so no party rows are recorded. || Final topline PDF downloaded and text-extracted in session; all five response cells for the 2025 and 2022 rows of TRANSGEND6f read directly. Party nets from Pew's short read.
Figures below are transcribed from these documents. Where they disagree with the source, the source governs.
Questions asked (8)
Form 1 arm of the randomized bathroom-item wording experiment
Here are some current laws and policies that are either in place or being considered in the U.S. related to transgender issues.
Here are some current laws and policies that are either in place or being considered in the U.S. related to transgender issues. Would you favor or oppose laws or policies that do each of the following? Require transgender individuals to use public bathrooms that match the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with
Favor 12%Favor 14%Oppose 12%Favor or strongly favor (net, as reported by Pew) 56%Oppose or strongly oppose (net, as reported by Pew) 26%
Wording notes: asked of a random half sample (Form 1) only | alternate arm wording withheld by the pollster | items randomized within battery | response options rotated 1-5/5-1
neutral — Both poles are named ('the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with') and a true midpoint plus symmetric intensity options are offered.
Subgroup figures (2)
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
67%
Someone can be a man or a woman even if that is different from the sex they were assigned at birth
31%
No answer
2%
Wording notes: response options randomized | no middle option
neutral — two symmetric statements, order randomized
protecting transgender people from discrimination in jobs, housing and public spaces
Here are some current laws and policies that are either in place or being considered in the U.S. related to transgender issues.
Would you favor or oppose laws or policies that do each of the following? ... Protect transgender individuals from discrimination in jobs, housing, and public spaces such as restaurants and stores
Strongly favor
31%
Strongly oppose
10%
Neither favor nor oppose
27%
No answer
1%
Favor 25%Oppose 6%NET Strongly favor/Favor 56%NET Oppose/Strongly oppose 16%
Wording notes: items randomized | response options rotated 1-5/5-1 | asked of all respondents
neutral — balanced favor/oppose with midpoint; identical to the 2022 wording, supporting the trend
requiring bathroom use matching sex assigned at birth
Here are some current laws and policies that are either in place or being considered in the U.S. related to transgender issues.
Would you favor or oppose laws or policies that do each of the following? ... Require transgender individuals to use public bathrooms that match the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with
Favor 12%NET Strongly favor/Favor 49%NET Oppose/Strongly oppose 26%
Wording notes: Form 1 only (n=2,565) | a slightly different, unpublished wording was tested on the other half for experimental purposes
neutral — balanced favor/oppose with midpoint; identical to the 2022 wording
banning elementary school instruction about gender identity
Here are some current laws and policies that are either in place or being considered in the U.S. related to transgender issues.
Would you favor or oppose laws or policies that do each of the following? ... Make it illegal for public school districts to teach about gender identity in elementary schools
Favor 12%NET Strongly favor/Favor 47%NET Oppose/Strongly oppose 34%
Wording notes: items randomized | asked of all respondents
neutral — balanced favor/oppose with midpoint
requiring trans athletes to compete on teams matching sex assigned at birth
Here are some current laws and policies that are either in place or being considered in the U.S. related to transgender issues.
Would you favor or oppose laws or policies that do each of the following? ... Require that transgender athletes compete on teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with
Favor 17%NET Strongly favor/Favor 66%NET Neither favor nor oppose 19%NET Oppose/Strongly oppose 15%
Wording notes: Form 1 only (n=2,565) | a slightly different, unpublished wording was tested on the other half for experimental purposes | does not specify level of competition or sex of athlete
neutral — balanced favor/oppose with midpoint; identical to the 2022 wording
Subgroup figures (2)
requiring health insurance coverage of gender transition care
Here are some current laws and policies that are either in place or being considered in the U.S. related to transgender issues.
Would you favor or oppose laws or policies that do each of the following? ... Require health insurance companies to cover medical care for gender transitions
Favor 12%NET Strongly favor/Favor 22%NET Oppose/Strongly oppose 53%
Wording notes: items randomized | mandate framing | asked of all respondents
neutral — balanced favor/oppose with midpoint
banning gender transition medical care for people under 18
Here are some current laws and policies that are either in place or being considered in the U.S. related to transgender issues.
Would you favor or oppose laws or policies that do each of the following? ... Make it illegal for health care professionals to provide someone younger than 18 with medical care for a gender transition
Favor 14%NET Strongly favor/Favor 56%
Wording notes: items randomized | asked of all respondents | does not distinguish blockers/hormones/surgery
neutral — balanced favor/oppose with midpoint
Subgroup figures (2)