IVR
Rasmussen Reports
Rasmussen Reports - Gender Identity · Dec 21–22, 2021 · US national
Methodology
- Pollster
- Rasmussen Reports commercial
- Sponsor
- Rasmussen Reports
- Fielded
- Dec 21–22, 2021
- Population
- adults
- Sample size
- 1,000
- Sample frame
- IVR
- Mode
- national telephone and online survey; automated telephone interviews (IVR) combined with an online sample; field work by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC
- Margin of error
- +/- 3 percentage points
- Weighting
- not disclosed in the public release; Rasmussen weights to demographic targets for age, race, gender, political party and other variables
- Geography
- US national
Sources
Verification note. Wording and all percentages read directly from the publicly accessible Rasmussen topline page for December 21-22, 2021. Note the Rasmussen article rounds Strongly Agree on Q1 to 63%; the topline shows 62%.
Figures below are transcribed from these documents. Where they disagree with the source, the source governs.
Questions asked (3)
belief that there are two genders
Do you agree or disagree with this statement: There are two genders, male and female.
Wording notes: single-statement agree/disagree format invites acquiescence bias | the statement is literally true as a description of the two most common sexes, so agreement does not imply any position on trans people | no counter-statement offered
loaded_terms — an agree/disagree item with no counter-statement, on a proposition many respondents will read as a simple biological fact rather than a policy position. Rasmussen and downstream users treat the ~72-75% agreement as evidence of rejection of 'transgender ideology'; the wording does not support that inference. This is the anchor item for Rasmussen's longest trans trend
General acceptanceforced choice
J.K. Rowling and 'hate speech'
Critics have recently accused "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling of engaging in "hate speech" toward transgender people for saying that there are two biologically distinct genders. Do you agree with J.K. Rowling, or is it "hate speech" to say there are only two genders?
You agree with J.K. Rowling
58%
It is hate speech
17%
Not sure
25%
Wording notes: asks respondents to side with a named, popular celebrity against unnamed 'critics' | the two options are not parallel - one is agreement with a person, the other is a legal/moral characterization of speech | Rowling's actual statements are summarized in the terms most favorable to her
tilts_restrictive — a celebrity-endorsement frame layered on top of an order effect: respondents who just agreed there are two genders are then asked whether saying so is hate speech. The 25% 'not sure' is the largest non-response share in the survey and suggests many respondents recognized the two options were not opposites
school counseling without parental knowledge
Should schools and teachers be allowed to counsel students on their sexual and gender identities without parental knowledge or consent?
Wording notes: 'without parental knowledge or consent' is the operative clause and describes the least defensible version of any school policy | 'counsel' is undefined and could mean anything from a conversation to clinical counseling | no age range specified
tilts_restrictive — the item pairs an undefined action ('counsel') with the maximally objectionable condition ('without parental knowledge or consent'). It has been asked unchanged from December 2021 through September 2025 and has produced a stable 68-69% 'No', which Rasmussen reports as opposition to 'transgender ideology' in schools