online opt-in
Siena College Research Institute
Siena/St. Bonaventure American Sports Fanship Survey 2026, Release 3 - Issues in Sport · Feb 16–27, 2026 · US national
Methodology
- Pollster
- Siena College Research Institute academic
- Sponsor
- Siena Research Institute and St. Bonaventure University's Jandoli School of Communication
- Fielded
- Feb 16–27, 2026
- Population
- adults
- Sample size
- 3,084
- Sample frame
- online opt-in
- Panel
- Lucid/Cint proprietary online panel
- Mode
- online - 3,084 responses drawn from a proprietary online panel (Lucid/Cint) of United States residents; interviews excluded for failing data-quality attention checks, duplicate response IDs removed, and three screening items including a honey-pot bot trap and two instruction-following checks
- Margin of error
- credibility interval of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points; the pollster states statistical margins of error are not applicable to online polls
- Weighting
- statistically adjusted by age, region, race/ethnicity, education and gender to ensure representativeness
- Geography
- US national
- Base notes
- Q93-Q95 are a random split: roughly half the sample (Group A) was offered a 'Don't know' option and half (Group B) was not, so each arm rests on about 1,540 responses
Sources
Verification note. Wording for Q83 and Q93-Q95 read verbatim from the ASFS 2026 crosstabs PDF; totals for Q93-Q95 cross-checked against the appendix table in the release PDF, and the Q83 totals (47-34 good/bad, 19 don't know) taken from the release narrative because the flattened crosstab text could not be mapped to Q83's block with certainty. Male/Female columns parsed from the crosstab banner. This poll publishes no party breaks - its banner is fanship, gender, age, region, ethnicity and education only. Recorded here despite being national because it is the Siena instrument that anchors the New York state series and because the A/B don't-know split is a rare published wording experiment.
Figures below are transcribed from these documents. Where they disagree with the source, the source governs.
Questions asked (4)
whether Trump's executive order threatening federal funds over transgender women in women's sports is good or bad for sports
Now, for each of the following items, please indicate whether you believe it is good for sports or bad for sports. [ROTATE Q82 - Q92]
An executive order signed by U.S. President Trump which threatens to withhold federal funds from any educational institutions or athletic associations who allow transgender women to compete in women ́s sporting competitions
Good for sports
47%
Bad for sports
34%
Don't know / Refused
19%
Wording notes: evaluates a federal policy on a 'good for sports / bad for sports' dimension rather than approve/disapprove | rotated within an eleven-item battery of unrelated sports-business items
unclear — the description of the executive order is accurate and neutral, but forcing a civil-rights policy onto a 'good/bad for sports' scale rather than a support/oppose scale measures something different from the standard trackers and is not directly comparable to them
how much thought respondents have given to transgender participation in sports (Group A, 'Don't know' offered)
Q93 - Q95 RANDOM SPLIT: Half of the sample (Group A) received "Don't know" as a response option. The other half (Group B) did not receive "Don't know" as a response option.
Turning to another issue in sports... How much thought have you given to the issue of whether transgender people should or should not be allowed to participate in organized sports with others that share their gender identity?
Some
33%
A lot
23%
Not very much
21%
None at all
18%
Don't know / Refused
5%
Wording notes: Group A arm of a designed don't-know split
neutral — standard thought-given salience item; the split is the experimental manipulation, not a slant
Subgroup figures (10)
transgender high school students in high school sports (Group A, 'Don't know' offered)
Q93 - Q95 RANDOM SPLIT: Half of the sample (Group A) received "Don't know" as a response option. The other half (Group B) did not receive "Don't know" as a response option.
Thinking about transgender high school students, are you in favor of or opposed to transgender high school students being allowed to participate in organized high school sports with others that share their gender identity?
Opposed to
51%
In favor of
28%
Don't know / Refused
20%
Wording notes: Group A arm: explicit don't-know offered | asks about inclusion, so 'in favor' is the affirming direction
neutral — balanced favor/oppose stem; the paired A/B arms are what make this fielding valuable, since offering a don't-know cuts support from 41% to 28% and opposition from 59% to 51%
Subgroup figures (6)
transgender athletes in college and professional sports (Group A, 'Don't know' offered)
Q93 - Q95 RANDOM SPLIT: Half of the sample (Group A) received "Don't know" as a response option. The other half (Group B) did not receive "Don't know" as a response option.
And now considering higher levels of competition including college and professional competition, are you in favor of or opposed to transgender athletes being allowed to compete in elite sports with others that share their gender identity?
Opposed to
52%
In favor of
28%
Don't know / Refused
20%
Wording notes: Group A arm: explicit don't-know offered
neutral — balanced favor/oppose stem, parallel in construction to the high school item so the two levels can be compared
Subgroup figures (4)