Poll: Voters Want Government to Drop Involvement in Bathroom Issue

More voters say transgender people ought to be allowed to choose which public restroom they use than those who think there ought to be a law against it — but a plurality want the U.S. and state government to butt out of the issue, an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds.

According to the survey:

• 40 percent of voters favor letting transgender people choose which facility to use,
• 31 percent say they should be legally prevented from doing so, and
• 29 percent had no opinion.

But the poll found 49 percent of voters oppose the Department of Justice intervening in a North Carolina state law that prohibits transgender people from picking their bathroom; only 28 percent support the federal move.

Similarly,

• 38 percent say state governments shouldn't pass any transgender bathroom laws;
• 19 percent want laws on the books allowing the choice, and
• 22 percent say there should be laws against it.

In other findings:

• Nationwide, 39 percent of voters say they know or work with someone who is transgender; 59 percent say they don't – a 10 point increase from last year, when 29 percent said they know someone who is transgender, while 69 percent didn't.
• 53 percent of young voters side with transgender people on the bathroom choice issue; only a third of seniors agree.
• 72 percent of liberals support the notion of bathroom choice for transgender people compared with 41 percent of moderates and 12 percent of self-described conservatives.

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