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The Trump administration has made attacking transgender people one of its signature priorities. It has issued a orders threatening to defund hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to trans youth, targeted children’s television through the FCC for including transgender characters, and spent millions in taxpayer resources pursuing anti-trans executive orders across the federal government. But according to the latest Fox News poll, released this week, the American public is not on board. Voters say Democrats would do a better job on transgender issues by a 13-point margin, 56 to 43 percent—the second consecutive Fox News poll this year to show a significant Democratic advantage on the issue.

The finding is consistent with the January Fox News poll, which showed Democrats with a 22 point advantage on transgender issues. While the margin has narrowed somewhat, the direction has not changed: voters across nearly every demographic subgroup continue to say they trust Democrats more than Republicans on this issue.

The demographic breakdown is significant. Black voters backed Democrats on transgender issues by a 54-point margin, 77 to 23 percent. Hispanic voters favored Democrats 59 to 40 percent. White voters—a group Republicans depend on for their electoral coalition—sided with Democrats 53 to 46 percent. Every age group favored Democrats, with the strongest support coming from voters under 35, who backed the Democratic approach 61 to 39 percent. But the finding was not limited to young voters: Americans 65 and older also preferred Democrats on the issue, 58 to 38 percent—a 20-point margin among seniors.

Self-identified moderates backed Democrats 60 to 38 percent—a 22-point margin that suggests anti-trans messaging continues to backfire outside the Republican base. Liberals preferred Democrats 86 to 13 percent. Even among self-identified conservatives, nearly a third—31 percent—said Democrats would do a better job. And among 2024 Trump voters, 27 percent crossed over to say they trusted Democrats more on the issue—more than one in four of the president’s own supporters.

The geographic breakdown was equally striking. Urban voters backed Democrats 68 to 31 percent and suburban voters—the decisive battleground in American politics—preferred Democrats 57 to 43 percent. Rural voters were the only geographic group to favor Republicans, 52 to 46 percent, but even that margin was narrow. Democrats also led among Catholics (54-45), white Catholics (51-48), Protestants (50-48), and military voters (54-44). White evangelicals were the only religious group to side with Republicans.

Perhaps most telling is how little voters actually care about the issue the administration has made central to its agenda. When the poll asked voters to name the most important issue facing the country, “wokeness/transgender issues” registered at less than 1 percent—rounding to zero. It ranked below every other issue tested, including inflation (26 percent), the economy (17 percent), political corruption (13 percent), the Iran war (11 percent), immigration (8 percent), healthcare (3 percent), and climate change (1 percent). The Republican Party is spending enormous political capital on an issue that is not salient to the American voter.

That political investment has come at the cost of attention to the issues voters actually do care about. Trump’s overall job approval sits at just 42 percent, with 58 percent disapproving. On the economy, only 34 percent approve of his performance. On inflation, just 28 percent approve—while 72 percent disapprove. Seventy percent of voters say the economy is getting worse for their families. Sixty-two percent say grocery prices are a “major problem.” And Trump’s overall approval among many polling outlets has fallen to its lowest in history.

These numbers are part of a pattern. In Virginia, Republican Winsome Earle-Sears spent more on anti-trans ads than on any other issue and lost by 15 points. In New Jersey, Jack Ciattarelli ran anti-trans ads and lost. In Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race this month, anti-trans attack ads failed for the third consecutive cycle. As ACLU communications strategist Gillian Branstetter observed of the latest Fox News poll: “This is a really consistent poll finding—same was true of Harris in 2024 and Spanberger in Virginia—but it’s usually the least salient set of issues in any given poll. It’s why there’s an open lane to emphasize how much time Republicans waste on their obsession with us.”

The data points to a clear conclusion: voters prefer the Democratic approach to transgender issues, they do not consider the issue a priority, and Republicans centering their campaigns on transgender issues often leads to losses. The administration can continue to target transgender people through executive orders, FCC actions, and federal declarations—but as these numbers show, they do so without the American Public’s support. Democrats, for their part, should take note: running on support for transgender people is not the political liability it was made out to be in the aftermath of 2024. It is, as the data now consistently shows, a position the majority of voters find vastly more palatable than the Republican approach.

You can see the full Fox News poll results here.

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