A new Gallup poll found declining support for openly transgender troops after President Trump signed an executive order setting the stage for a ban on transgender troops.
Support for openly transgender men and women serving in the U.S. military is declining, according to a new poll, as President Donald Trump‘s administration moves to reinstate a ban on transgender troops.
According to a new Gallup poll, 58% of Americans support allowing openly transgender men and women to serve in the U.S. military. That’s down from the 66% of Americans who reported they supported transgender troops in 2021 and 71% who expressed support in 2019.
Republicans and Independents were largely behind the decline. Just 23% of Republicans back openly transgender service members in the latest poll, while 43% did in Gallup’s 2019 and 2021 polls.
Support from Independents has also dropped from 78% in 2019 to 62% in the latest poll. Democratic support has remained strong since Gallup’s 2019’s polling, currently standing at 84%.
TRUMP REVOKES BIDEN ORDER ALLOWING TRANSGENDER TROOPS IN BID TO RID DEI FROM MILITARY
The new poll was taken Jan. 21-27, the week that Trump returned to the White House.
Trump has quickly moved to reinstate a ban on transgender troops serving in the U.S. military that he first imposed during his first term. The ban faced legal challenges and was later overturned by then-President Biden when he took office.
After returning to office for his second term, Trump revoked Biden’s order that allowed transgender people to serve. He has since signed several executive orders cracking down on gender ideology in the federal government and military.
One of the orders, “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” states that expressing a false “gender identity” other than one’s sex, “cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.”
Trump’s order cites longstanding Defense Department policy which says service members must be free of medical conditions and physical defects that would require excessive treatment or hospitalization.
SIX SERVICEMEMBERS CHALLENGE TRUMP’S TRANSGENDER MILITARY EXECUTIVE ORDER
“Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life,” it continues.
The order also states that males and females are not allowed to use or share sleeping, changing or bathing facilities unless it is absolutely necessary during an operation.
On Monday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth directed the military to stop allowing individuals with a history of gender dysphoria from being able to join.
The memo, dated February 7, states, “Effective immediately, all new accessions for individuals with a history of gender dysphoria are paused.”
HEGSETH BANS FUTURE TRANS SOLDIERS, MAKES SWEEPING CHANGES FOR CURRENT ONES
The memo also says service members with gender dysphoria who “have volunteered to serve our country and will be treated with dignity and respect.”
According to Reuters, the memo was filed on Monday with the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
Trump’s order is already facing legal challenges from current transgender military servicemembers, who filed a lawsuit calling Trump’s action unconstitutional.
Fox News Digital previously reported that there are an estimated 9,000 to 14,000 transgender people serving in the military.
The Defense Department reportedly spent approximately $15 million on surgical and nonsurgical gender-affirming care for 1,892 active duty service members between Jan. 1, 2016, and May 14, 2021, per the Congressional Research Service.
Fox News’ Elizabeth Pritchett and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
