The share of voters of both major parties in the United States who say biological sex determines whether one is male or female has increased since 2017, a new survey by Pew Research Center found.
The survey, which explores the underlying political values of Biden and Trump supporters that contribute to policy attitudes, found that, in 2017, “53% of voters said sex assigned at birth determines gender,” while “65% express this view today.”
When political affiliation is a factor, the share of Republican voters who say biological sex determines gender has risen from 79% in 2017 to 91%.
Meanwhile, the share of Democratic voters who agree has increased from 30% to 39% during the same time period.
The current survey suggests Trump supporters are more united in their views on biological sex and gender identity, with 90% of them asserting sex at birth determines gender.
Biden voters are more divided, with 59% saying one’s gender can be different from sex at birth, and 39% saying gender is determined by biological sex.
The survey’s findings in the area of biological sex and gender led Washington Examiner Chief Political Correspondent Byron York to post on X that “[t]ransgender ideology appears to be backfiring.”
“The number of American voters who say boys are born boys and girls are born girls has been growing steadily since 2017 – even when pollsters use the loaded phrase ‘assigned at birth,’” York observed.
On the issue of voters’ attitudes toward gender ideology’s focus on pronouns that are gender-neutral, the Pew survey found that over half (56%) say they are not comfortable with a person’s use of the plural pronouns “they” and “them” to describe themselves, rather than “he” or “she.”
However, 43% of the voters surveyed said they are comfortable with the use of such pronouns.
Only 20% of Trump supporters are comfortable with the use of “they/them” pronouns. Among Biden voters, a majority of 66% say the same.
Biden voters also show another sharp division when it comes to age group and comfort level with “they/them” pronouns, with 79% of those aged 18-49 saying they are comfortable with such pronouns, compared to only 56% of Biden voters who are age 50 and over.
Overall, Pew found that voters under 50 are more comfortable with the use of such pronouns than those 50 and older.
The survey highlighted as well that black voters who say they support Biden (55%) are less comfortable with the use of “they/them” pronouns than those Biden supporters who are white (69%), Hispanic (68%), or Asian (72%).
Black Biden supporters also split with Biden backers of other racial and ethnic backgrounds when it comes to their degree of comfort with identifying as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, as well as on the question of whether the legalization of same-sex marriage was “good” for society.
“Black voters who support Biden are far less likely” than other Biden supporters to say they experience increased comfort with lesbian, gay, or bisexual identification, and legalized same-sex marriage, Pew observes, adding, “[a]bout a quarter of Black Biden supporters say these things are good, compared with about half or more among his White, Hispanic and Asian backers.”
The Pew survey consisted of responses from 8,709 participants, including 7,166 registered voters, and was conducted from April 8 to April 14, 2024. The margin of sampling error for the sample is plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.
