Washington Post/KFF

Which statement comes closer to your views, even if neither is exactly right? (rotate 1-2/2-1)

Wording notes: the two statements are rotated, so neither is systematically presented first | 'even if neither is exactly right' explicitly licenses respondents who hold an intermediate view to pick the nearer one

neutral — The two statements are parallel in construction and length, both use the same 'sex they were assigned at birth' phrasing, and rotation removes primacy effects. The 'even if neither is exactly right' preface is good practice for a forced binary on a contested concept.

Would you say people in the U.S. are generally (more) accepting or generally (less) accepting of people who are (INSERT ITEM) than they were ten years ago, or are they about the same? (scramble items a-c/rotate items in parentheses)

Wording notes: measures perceived social change, not the respondent's own attitude | 'more'/'less' rotated and items scrambled

neutral — Both directions rotated, an explicit 'about the same' middle category offered, and items scrambled. The item measures perception of societal change rather than the respondent's own view, which is what it claims to do.

Do you think it is (appropriate) or (inappropriate) for teachers to discuss trans identity in public schools with students in (INSERT ITEM)? (rotate text in parentheses)

Wording notes: asks each grade band separately, which surfaces a steep age gradient rather than collapsing it | 'discuss trans identity' is left undefined - it could mean anything from acknowledging a trans classmate to formal curriculum | no 'depends' or 'don't know' offered

neutral — Rotating 'appropriate'/'inappropriate' and splitting by grade band is careful design, and the grade split is what makes the result informative - total-adult support runs from 23% at K-3 to 64% at grades 9-12. The undefined scope of 'discuss trans identity' is a real ambiguity, but it is not slanted in either direction.

Do you (support) or (oppose) laws prohibiting discrimination against trans people (INSERT ITEMS)? (scramble items c-g/ask a & b first/rotate items in parentheses)

Wording notes: domain-by-domain measurement rather than a single Equality Act item | 'support'/'oppose' rotated; items c-g scrambled with a and b fixed first

neutral — Standard symmetric support/oppose with rotation, applied separately across seven domains. Splitting by domain reveals that support is broad and fairly flat (65-74%) even as the same respondents oppose trans participation in sports and youth medical care - a contrast the design makes visible rather than obscuring.

Do you (support) or (oppose) trans children between the ages of 10 and 14 having access to (ITEM) under medical supervision? (rotate items in parentheses)

Wording notes: specifies 'under medical supervision', which most polls on this topic omit | separates counseling from puberty blockers rather than bundling them | narrow age band (10-14) stated explicitly

neutral — This is among the more carefully constructed youth-medical items in the corpus: it names a specific age band, states that care would be under medical supervision, separates counseling from puberty-blocking medication, and rotates support/oppose. The result - 62% support for counseling versus 31% for puberty blockers at ages 10-14 - is only interpretable because the interventions were not bundled.

Do you (support) or (oppose) trans teenagers, between the ages of 15 and 17, having access to (ITEM) under medical supervision? (rotate items in parentheses)

Wording notes: specifies 'under medical supervision' | separates counseling from hormonal treatments | narrow age band (15-17) stated explicitly

neutral — Same careful construction as Q31, with the age band raised. The paired design shows a real age effect on hormones (31% support puberty blockers at 10-14 versus 42% support hormonal treatments at 15-17), which a single undifferentiated 'medical transition for minors' item would hide.

Thinking about trans women and girls - people whose sex was classified as male at birth but who currently identify as female -

Thinking about trans women and girls - people whose sex was classified as male at birth but who currently identify as female - do you think trans women and girls should or should not be allowed to compete in sports with other women and girls at each of the following levels. (rotate items in order ABCD/DCBA)

Wording notes: same stem as the Washington Post-UMD May 2022 item, but with no explicit 'no opinion' option offered, which raises both the allowed and not-allowed shares | asks only about trans women and girls, never about trans men and boys | item order rotated forward and backward

neutral — Definition and response options are symmetric and item order is rotated in both directions. The important caveat is comparability rather than bias: because this version does not print a no-opinion column, its percentages are not directly comparable to the Post-UMD May 2022 fielding that used the same stem but reported 15-17% with no opinion.

If trans girls are not allowed to compete with other girls in youth sports, how concerned, if at all, are you that the mental health of trans girls will suffer?

Wording notes: 'how concerned, if at all' adds an explicit permission to say not concerned, unlike the Post-UMD May 2022 version | conditional framing about a counterfactual

neutral — Balanced four-point concern scale; the added 'if at all' is a small improvement over the Post-UMD May 2022 wording. Unlike the Post-UMD version, this fielding does not pair it with the competitive-advantage counter-item, so the argument against exclusion appears here without its counterweight - though it comes after the participation measure and so cannot prime it.

SHOW TO ALL: Now we have a few questions we will use to describe the people who took part in our survey...

Aside from acquaintances, do you personally know anyone who is trans? (please select all that apply)

Wording notes: asked of the cisgender sample only (n=823) | 'Aside from acquaintances' sets the same higher threshold as the Post-UMD May 2022 version

neutral — Descriptive contact item with exhaustive options; placement at the end of the instrument is better practice than the Post-UMD May 2022 placement immediately before the acceptance item.