Monday March 20, 2017 - New poll

A new poll by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), shows that the number of people saying they know someone who is transgendered  is increasing. Also those who know a transperson are much more likely to support transgender rights.

This is one reason why telling others about our story is important and helps all of us. I suspect that even those we tell, who do not support us, become more moderate because they can put a face on the issue.

There has been a steady increase in Americans who report knowing someone who is transgender.

1.  In 2013, the Public Religion Research Institute reported that roughly 1-in-10 (9%) Americans reported having a close friend or family member who is transgender. 
2. In 2014, when HRC asked survey respondents, “Thinking specifically about transgender people, do you personally know or work with someone who is transgender?” 17 percent said they did. 
3. In 2015, the number was 22 percent. 
4. In 2016, just over a year later, it has jumped by 13 percentage points to 35 percent.

For those who said they “personally know or work with someone who is transgender,” their favorability for “transgender people” is 66 percent, with 13 percent unfavorable. That’s a net favorability of +53 percentage points.  66-13

Compare that to those who said they “do not” personally know or work with a transgender person. The rating for those who don’t is 37 favorable, 30 unfavorable, a net of only +7. (The margin of error for this survey subgroup was 6.67 percent). 37-30

HRC National Survey of Likely Voters | Human Rights Campaign

The Takeaway: More Americans Know and Accept Transgender People Results from a new national survey commissioned by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer civil rights organization, reveal a significant uptick in the number of Americans who say they personally know or work with someone who is transgender.