A dwindling majority of Americans say openly transgender men and women should be able to serve in the U.S. military despite the Trump administration’s reinstatement of a ban on transgender service members.

Nearly 6 in 10 Americans support transgender service members, according to Gallup poll results released this week. But the 58% figure reflects a gradual decline since 2019, when 71% of Americans were in favor. In 2021, the figure was 66%.
The steady decrease has prompted worries among some in the transgender community, who blame it on what they call a deliberate campaign of misinformation and rhetoric from Republican lawmakers and President Donald Trump.

“I am concerned but not surprised,” said Alaina Kupec, president and founder of the transgender advocacy group Gender Research Advisory Council + Education, or GRACE. “The unrelenting attacks on the community by Republican lawmakers across the country have led to this erosion.”
Indeed, the latest decrease was driven mostly by Republicans, just 23% of whom support transgender military service, down from 43% in both 2019 and 2021. Meanwhile, slightly more than 6 in 10 independents said they backed transgender military service in the latest poll, down from 66% in 2021 and 78% in 2019.
Trump made gender identity issues a focus of his campaign, with transgender rights a favorite target of his TV ads and rallies despite the community representing barely 1% of the population, prompting fears that eliminating those rights would be among his initial priorities.

Such fears are now proving warranted. On his first day in office, Trump issued an executive order declaring the federal government would recognize only two sexes, male and female; more recently, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth moved to suspend medical treatment for transgender troops and restrict transgender recruits from enlisting.
“They’re endangering people in the military who are willing to put their lives on the line to serve the United States of America,” Tanya Walker, a transgender Army veteran in New York City, told USA TODAY.