U.S. Army Soldiers prepare to depart for a mission along the Southern Border at Hunter Army Airfield, Ga., Jan. 25, 2025. (Dustin Stark/Department of Defense)
(Tribune News Service) — Most Americans favor allowing transgender people to serve in the armed forces — but support has slipped in recent years, according to a new poll. A strong majority also supports allowing women to serve in combat roles.
In the latest Gallup survey released Feb. 10, 58% of respondents said they support admitting openly transgender women and men into the U.S. military. In contrast, in 2019, support stood at 71%, and in 2021, it decreased to 66%.
Republican backing for transgender troops plummeted from 43% in 2019 to 23% in 2025, marking a 20-point drop. During the same period, support among independents fell from 78% to 62%, and among Democrats, it dipped from 88% to 84%.
The poll — conducted between Jan. 21 and 27 with 1,001 U.S. adults — comes after President Donald Trump issued an executive order seeking to ban transgender people from serving in the military.
“Expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service,” said the order, which was released on Jan. 27.
The order has been subject to a legal challenge from six transgender service members who are currently serving and two former service members, according to the Associated Press.
“There’s nothing about being transgender that makes me better or worse than any other soldier I serve alongside,” Army Capt. Gordon Herrero, one of the plaintiffs, said in a statement. “We are all here because we are committed to our country, and we are passionate, willing, and able to serve effectively.”
Transgender people were first granted the ability to serve openly in the military in 2016, when then-President Barack Obama’s Defense Department lifted a ban.
Soon after taking office in 2017, Trump attempted to reverse this decision and ban transgender individuals from working in the military.
“After legal challenges to this policy, transgender military personnel were allowed to continue to serve, but new transgender recruits were allowed to serve only in their gender assigned at birth,” according to Gallup.
Then, after taking office in 2021, then-President Joe Biden removed Trump’s ban, again allowing transgender individuals to serve in the military openly.
Women in combat roles
The poll, which has a margin of error of 4 percentage points, also asked respondents for their opinions on women serving in combat roles, which has been permitted since 2015.
More than two-thirds of respondents, 78%, said they favored allowing women to work in combat positions, while 19% said they were opposed.
Majorities of Democrats (94%), independents (80%) and Republicans (60%) were all in support, though opposition was the strongest among Republicans (34%).
Gallup previously asked this question in 2007, finding that 74% of respondents supported women in combat roles, indicating opinions on this matter have changed little over time.
Before taking office, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth voiced disapproval for allowing women in combat roles.
But, in his Senate confirmation hearing, he expressed support for permitting women to fill such roles “if they can meet standards that are high and equal to those of men,” according to Gallup.
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