New Poll: Majority of Americans Support Transgender Military Service

Only 32% of Republicans Supported

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted this week found that the majority of Americans support transgender military service, disagreeing with the president.

The poll found that 58% of those surveyed agreed with the statement, “Transgender people should be allowed to serve in the military.” 27% said they shouldn’t, and as Reuters reported, the remainder of respondents answered “don’t know.” 

Conducted July 26-28, the poll followed Donald Trump’s unexpected announcement that he was banning all transgender persons from serving in the military.

And while Trump’s top chiefs made clear they knew nothing of the president’s plans, and have said they won’t implement his decision without specific direction, the White House subsequently  doubled down on the president’s cowardly, discriminatory policy.

Just today, as ThinkProgress reported, Energy Secretary Rick Perry defended Donald Trump’s decision, advising that “the president makes some good decisions about making sure that we have a force that is capable.”  

The poll also found that Democrats “mostly supported military service by transgender Americans while Republicans were more evenly split.” Results revealed that only 32% of Republicans said transgender Americans should have the right to serve, with 49% advising they shouldn’t. 19% said they were unsure.

While Donald Trump said this week that the United States military “cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs” of transgender soldiers, the Pentagon has reported that last year transition-related care would cost between about $2.4 and $8.4 million annually, less than 0.14% of the military’s medical budget.

That’s a stark difference from the $84 million spent on Viagra and similar medications in 2014, and as USA Today pointed out, is “roughly the cost of four of Trump’s trips to Mar-A-Lago.”

The president today marked his 43rd trip to one of his golf properties since taking office in January.

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Image by Ted Eytan via Flickr and a CC license