On Friday, a new poll was released by NPR, PBS News Hour and Marist purporting to show that over two-thirds of Americans oppose recent efforts by states to protect women’s sports and prohibiting doctors from prescribing certain sex change treatments to children.

The poll’s two main questions on these issues were worded as follows:

• “Several state legislatures have proposed bills affecting the transgender community. Do you support or oppose a bill that prohibits transgender student athletes from joining sports steams that match their gender identity?”
• “Several state legislatures have proposed bills affecting the transgender community. Do you support or oppose a bill that prohibits gender transition-related medical care for minors?”

By contrast, previous polling has consistently shown most Americans support such measures, including recent polls by Harvard/Harris and Politico as well as numerous state-based polls commissioned by American Principles Project (APP) and the Women’s Liberation Front.

In response, APP’s president Terry Schilling released the following statement:

“It’s obvious the woke left is getting desperate. With momentum quickly building in states across the country to defend female athletes and protect children from dangerous sex-change procedures, it’s clear something needed to be done to blunt this movement, and fast. So, lo and behold, a new poll was released last week miraculously showing that Americans widely disapprove of these efforts, contradicting the findings of many previous surveys.

“Of course, once one looks into the details of this new poll, one sees the reason for these results. The questions used remarkably vague wording and biased framing. On sports, for example, the issue was framed as one of allowing certain students to participate in sports as they wish, with no mention made of the real intention of states to prohibit biological male athletes from competing against females. And on the next question, highly experimental, life-altering sex-change procedures were euphamized as ‘gender transition-related medical care,’ a term that is all but certain to confuse those who aren’t familiar with the specifics of what that ‘care’ entails.

“This polling should be seen for what it is: an endeavor to sow doubt on these issues and provide ammunition to the woke left. We should be careful not to fall for it.”

To schedule an interview with an APP policy expert, contact Paul Dupont at (o) 202-503-2010 or pdupont@americanprinciplesproject.org.