Voters in three major swing-states may be divided over bathroom use by transgender people, but they all agree that the government should stay out of the issue, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday with polling in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Among Florida voters, 48 percent say transgender people should be able to use the bathroom facility that corresponds with their gender identity,, while 44 percent said they should not. Another 54 percent said they would oppose public schools being required to enforce any federal rule about bathroom use, with 37 percent saying they were in favor.
Last month, the White House issued a directive to public schools nationwide, saying they must allow students to sue the bathroom facility that corresponds with their gender identity.
The directive was in response to a North Carolina law mandating that transgender people can only use the bathroom that corresponds with their birth gender. The law received nationwide backlash and is still embroiled in numerous lawsuits over its constitutionality.
In Ohio, 43 percent of registered voters said transgender people should have the freedom to choose a bathroom, compared to a plurality of 48 percent who said they should not be allowed to. More than half — 55 percent — said they would oppose a directive for public schools, compared to 36 percent who said they would not.
In Pennsylvania, 49 percent of voters said transgender people should be allowed to choose a bathroom based on their gender identity, compared to 43 percent who said they should not. Just like in Florida and Ohio, 53 percent to 39 percent would not agree with a federal rule mandating how public schools allow or do not allow transgender students to pick a bathroom.
“Voters in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania oppose the federal government order to public schools that they must let transgender students use the bathroom of the gender with which they identify. But they are split roughly evenly on whether these students should be able to use whatever bathroom they choose,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said.
Since 1960, no candidate has won the presidential race without taking at least two of the three aforementioned states.
The polls were conducted via landlines and cellphones from June 8-19, surveying 975 Florida voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 971 Ohio voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points and 950 Pennsylvania voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
