The 2024 election cycle routinely ranked abortion, the border, and the economy as the most prominent issues driving voters to ballot boxes. But exit polls suggest another topic dominated voters’ minds. Concerned Women for America (CWA) found 70% of voters indicated transgender issues were an important factor in deciding their vote.
The exit poll sought to assess the level of importance of different issues for voters. On “Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls and women’s sports and of transgender boys and men using girls and women’s bathrooms,” an astounding 70% of exit poll participants said it was an important issue for them when selecting their vote. Six percent said the issue was the most important to them, 44% said it was very important, and 20% said it was somewhat important. Only 12% said it was not too important and 17% that it was not important at all. One percent did not know.
As we reported, The Wall Street Journal suspected the issue would be the “sleeper issue” of this election, and prominent Republicans wouldn’t allow voters to forget their Democrat opponents’ records on the issue. They made it part of their campaign to expose that not a single House Democrat voted for the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023 (H.R. 734), which would have affirmed sex-based protections in Title IX. Many Democrat candidates tried to walk back their stance.
President-elect Donald Trump, however, consistently stood for these kinds of protections for women. He signed CWA’s Presidential Promise to American Women, pledging to “focus on affirming sex-based distinctions that protect women in every area, such as shelters, prisons, housing, healthcare, defense, education, and sports.” The women of CWA knew this issue was important to Christian moms and families from every walk of life. And these exit poll numbers confirm it. They show these issues were important at some level to 91% of voters who cast their ballots for President Trump.
Voters’ passion for the issue seemed to inspire some of the key demographics bringing home Trump’s election night victory:
Hispanic men carried the largest demographic of voters who found the issue important in their voting choice (84%). In 10 key states, Hispanic men and women were Trump’s largest voter gain. NBC News reports he gained 18 points with Hispanic/Latino male voters and 7 points with Hispanic/Latino female voters in these states. 71% of Hispanic women noted transgender issues were important to their choice.
The poll similarly suggests the issue was important to 67% of black voters, who awarded Trump an 8 point gain compared to his 2020 record in the demographic.
Trump also gained ground with female voters, for whom 66% said the issue was important in choosing their candidate.
Voters under 30 voted for Trump in greater margins than any Republican candidate since 2008. The exit polling indicates the transgender issue was important to 67% of the young voter’s decision (18-34).
The exit poll represented Harris voters (48% of participants) and Trump voters (48% of participants) equally. Though this type of reform was not part of her platform, 50% of Harris voters still recognized the importance of the debate around women’s sports and private areas.
Several Democrats have expressed departure from the party’s proven platform including trans-identifying men in women’s spaces, saying they will cut against the grain in the wake of the party’s disappointing Election Day. Congressman Seth Moulton (D-Massachusetts-6th) told MSNBC and the New York Times the Democrats are “out of touch” with the majority of voters, and he doesn’t want his young daughters “getting run over on a playing field by a male.” Rep. Moulton voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act in 2023. “I don’t think biological boys should be playing in girls’ sports,” said Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-New York-3rd), “Democrats aren’t saying that, and they should be.”
When elected officials gather in January, they must work to deliver on voters’ demands for a conclusive end to the issues surrounding “transgender inclusion.” Party walls are already falling, and bipartisan legislation should follow around the corner.