A majority of Americans support legal protections for transgender people in most circumstances according to a new University of Delaware poll.
The survey shows about 70 percent of people across the country favor laws protecting transgender students in schools and those at the workplace. 62 percent believe they should be able to serve in the military.
But just 51 percent would support requiring public buildings to have gender-neutral restrooms available.
“That seems to be something that at least part of the public maybe isn’t quite as comfortable with that as say protections in schools or protection in the workplace. It’s more sensitive to them for some reason," said Paul Brewer, director of UD's Center for Political Communication.
Brewer says there’s a stark age gap in those who support these policies, with the largest support from those aged 18-34.
Much of the support also skewed toward women and those identified as Democrats.
Republicans overwhelmingly supported protections for schools and the workplace, but opposed transgender people serving in the military or providing gender-neutral bathrooms.
Brewer says this is one of the first nationwide polls on the subject, so there's not much data to see if there's been much movement one way or the other.
“The polling on it is so new that there’s not that much opportunity to see a trend over time. But, that age gap, unless there’s a major shakeup, what that age gap tells us is that in the future the public is going to be more and more supportive of transgender rights,” he said.
The poll surveyed 901 people nationwide between Nov. 11-17.
