7 in 10 Americans support transgender people serving in military: poll

Support for allowing openly transgender people to serve in the military stands at 71 percent, according to a Gallup survey released Thursday.

More than half of veterans surveyed — 56 percent — support allowing transgender people to serve in the military, pollsters found. Support is higher among nonveterans, with 73 percent saying transgender people should be allowed to serve.

{mosads}More women than men support allowing transgender people to serve, with 79 percent of women in favor and 64 percent of men. 

Majorities of Americans of all ages approve of allowing transgender people to serve, according to the survey. Eighty-four percent of people ages 18-29 are in favor, compared to 73 percent for those 30-49 and 66 percent for those 50 and up.

Roughly one quarter — 26 percent — of respondents in the new poll oppose allowing transgender people to serve, and 2 percent have no opinion.

Pollsters discovered a partisan split, with 53 percent of Republicans opposed to allowing transgender people to serve, compared to just 11 percent of Democrats. Twenty percent of independents oppose allowing them to serve.

President Trump announced a ban on transgender people serving in the military in July 2017. The controversial policy took effect in April.

Transgender troops may serve if they serve under their biological sex or if they were grandfathered in under the 2016 open service policy. Supporters of the policy argue it is not a ban because of these allowances.

The House has passed a resolution formally condemning the Trump administration’s ban and voted Tuesday to block the Pentagon from using funding to implement the ban.