Latest news with #19thNews
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Poll: Nearly half of Americans think politicians should not focus on transgender issues
Protestors hold a flag in New Orleans on March 31, 2023 as part of the International Transgender Day of Visibility. A new poll found most Americans think politicians should focus less on transgender issues and found a majority opposed legal bans on gender-affirming care. (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator) This story was originally reported by Jasmine Mithani of The 19th. Meet Jasmine and read more of her reporting on gender, politics and policy. President Donald Trump has taken aim at trans people during his first 100 days in office in his second term. He has sought to restrict access to accurate passports, erase the accomplishments of trans elders, remove transgender members from the military and purge the government of what he has termed 'woke gender ideology.' But a new 19th News/SurveyMonkey poll shows that 49% of Americans think politicians should not be focusing on transgender issues at all. It's a rise from before the election, when 43% of Americans said they believed politicians should not focus on trans issues, versus protecting trans rights or restricting gender-affirming care. In 2023, the figure was 44%. Democrats and Independents are less likely than they were in September to think politicians should be protecting transgender rights, and 42% of Democrats think politicians should not focus on trans issues — up from 33% last year. More Republicans also think politicians shouldn't focus on trans issues — 57% vs 53% last year — and the number who think lawmakers should concentrate on restricting transgender rights has fallen. Overall, despite the Trump administration's attempts to erase trans people from public life, the majority of Americans (59%) support the right of transgender adults to access gender-affirming care. However, fewer Americans, 43%, support the right of trans youth to seek such care. That doesn't necessarily translate into a desire for bans. In fact, 55% opposed laws that would restrict gender-affirming care for minors, including 41% of Republicans and 57% of Independents. Gender-affirming care for trans people is any health care designed to support and affirm their gender identity, and typically differs depending on age. For trans adults, care can include therapy, consultations with doctors, hormones or other medication, and surgery. For trans youth, gender-affirming care can include therapy, consultations with doctors, hormones or puberty blockers, other medication, and, rarely, surgery. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health does not recommend gender-affirming gential surgeries for anyone under 18. The results are from a 19th News/SurveyMonkey poll conducted online from April 11-21, 2025, among 5,032 American adults. Results have a margin of error of 1.5 percentage points. The majority of Americans are not confident that politicians are informed enough about gender-affirming care for transgender minors to make fair policy. But the number who say they are informed enough has risen from 24% last year to 31% this year. Women continue to be more likely than men to support access to gender-affirming care for both adults (65% versus 52%) and youth (46% versus 38%). While this survey collected only binary gender data, a 19th News/SurveyMonkey poll from September showed widespread support for access among nonbinary and transgender Americans. Movement in favor of transgender rights is notable given how central antri-trans rhetoric was to Trump's campaign, which is now manifesting into federal policy impacting hundreds of thousands of lives. Meanwhile, Democrats are split on whether to support their trans constituents. In the immediate aftermath of the election, some congressional Democrats loudly criticized their party for supporting trans people. And in the inaugural episode of his new podcast, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signaled interest in restricting how trans women athletes can compete in sporting events. But others, like Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, have vocally condemned Trump's anti-trans policies and refused to back down. This was notably seen a couple months into the Trump administration, when Senate Democrats did band together to block a bill which would have prevented transgender girls from playing on girls' sports teams in federally-funded schools. This 19th News|SurveyMonkey poll was conducted online from April 11-21, 2025, among a national sample of 5,032 U.S. adults 18+. Respondents were selected from the more than two million people who take surveys on SurveyMonkey each day. Results for this non-probability survey have an error estimate of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points. Data have been weighted for age, race, sex, education and geography using the Census Bureau's American Community Survey to reflect the demographic composition of the United States aged 18 and over.
USA Today
28-04-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
49% of Americans don't want politicians focusing on trans issues, new poll finds
49% of Americans don't want politicians focusing on trans issues, new poll finds The latest figure is up from 2024, when 43% of U.S. adults said they didn't want their politicians to focus on transgender issues. Show Caption Hide Caption SCOTUS takes up case on LGBTQ+, inclusive books in schools Demonstrators on both sides protested as the Supreme Court heard a school district's case on parents' rights and LGBTQ+ books. More than half of Americans don't want politicians focusing on transgender issues, according to a new poll from a nonprofit newsroom. The 19th News poll found that 49% of Americans don't think politicians should focus on transgender issues at all, up from 43% in 2024. The poll surveyed 5,032 U.S. adults on April 11 and 12. Since his swearing-in, President Donald Trump has sought to restrict the rights of transgender Americans by asking the Supreme Court to ban trans people from serving in the military, restricting their access to gender-affirming passports and looking to prohibit transgender athletes from participating in the sports that align with their gender. Trump has also worked to scrub transgender history from government websites, including the removal of the word "transgender" from the National Park Service's website for the Stonewall National Monument in New York. Here's a deeper link into what the 19th News poll found. More: Transgender minors sue Trump administration over restrictions on gender-affirming care 19th News shows ratings of gender-affirming care for adults, minors The 19th News poll also asked respondents about whether they favored legislation that supported gender-affirming care for both adults and minors. The majority of respondents − 59% − said they favor the right of transgender adults to have access to gender-affirming care, per poll results obtained by USA TODAY. About 37% of respondents opposed this type of care for adults. Gender-affirming care encompassed a range of healthcare, including testosterone and estrogen therapy for those seeking to transition. More respondents, however, showed less support for transgender people under the age of 18 to have access to gender-affirming care. Specifically, 57% opposed and 43% supported this type of care for minors, poll results show. How was the 19th News poll conducted? The 19th News poll was conducted through SurveyMonkey, an online survey platform. The poll results had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5%. Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story idea? Email her at gcross@
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Nearly half of Americans don't want politicians focusing on trans issues
President Donald Trump has taken aim at trans people during his first 100 days in office in his second term. He has sought to restrict access to accurate passports, erase the accomplishments of trans elders, remove transgender members from the military and purge the government of what he has termed 'woke gender ideology.' But a new 19th News/SurveyMonkey poll shows that 49 percent of Americans think politicians should not be focusing on transgender issues at all. It's a rise from before the election, when 43 percent of Americans said they believed politicians should not focus on trans issues, versus protecting trans rights or restricting gender-affirming care. In 2023, the figure was 44 percent. Democrats and Independents are less likely than they were in September to think politicians should be protecting transgender rights, and 42 percent of Democrats think politicians should not focus on trans issues — up from 33 percent last year. More Republicans also think politicians shouldn't focus on trans issues — 57 percent vs 53 percent last year — and the number who think lawmakers should concentrate on restricting transgender rights has fallen. Overall, despite the Trump administration's attempts to erase trans people from public life, the majority of Americans (59 percent) support the right of transgender adults to access gender-affirming care. However, fewer Americans, 43 percent, support the right of trans youth to seek such care. That doesn't necessarily translate into a desire for bans. In fact, 55 percent opposed laws that would restrict gender-affirming care for minors, including 41 percent of Republicans and 57 percent of Independents. Gender-affirming care for trans people is any health care designed to support and affirm their gender identity, and typically differs depending on age. For trans adults, care can include therapy, consultations with doctors, hormones or other medication, and surgery. For trans youth, gender-affirming care can include therapy, consultations with doctors, hormones or puberty blockers, other medication, and, rarely, surgery. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health does not recommend gender-affirming gential surgeries for anyone under 18. The results are from a 19th News/SurveyMonkey poll conducted online from April 11-21, 2025, among 5,032 American adults. Results have a margin of error of 1.5 percentage points. The majority of Americans are not confident that politicians are informed enough about gender-affirming care for transgender minors to make fair policy. But the number who say they are informed enough has risen from 24 percent last year to 31 percent this year. Women continue to be more likely than men to support access to gender-affirming care for both adults (65 percent versus 52 percent) and youth (46 percent versus 38 percent). While this survey collected only binary gender data, a 19th News/SurveyMonkey poll from September showed widespread support for access among nonbinary and transgender Americans. Movement in favor of transgender rights is notable given how central antri-trans rhetoric was to Trump's campaign, which is now manifesting into federal policy impacting hundreds of thousands of lives. Meanwhile, Democrats are split on whether to support their trans constituents. In the immediate aftermath of the election, some congressional Democrats loudly criticized their party for supporting trans people. And in the inaugural episode of his new podcast, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signaled interest in restricting how trans women athletes can compete in sporting events. But others, like Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, have vocally condemned Trump's anti-trans policies and refused to back down. This was notably seen a couple months into the Trump administration, when Senate Democrats did band together to block a bill which would have prevented transgender girls from playing on girls' sports teams in federally-funded schools. This 19th News|SurveyMonkey poll was conducted online from April 11-21, 2025, among a national sample of 5,032 U.S. adults 18+. Respondents were selected from the more than two million people who take surveys on SurveyMonkey each day. Results for this non-probability survey have an error estimate of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points. Data have been weighted for age, race, sex, education and geography using the Census Bureau's American Community Survey to reflect the demographic composition of the United States aged 18 and over. The post Nearly half of Americans don't want politicians focusing on trans issues appeared first on The 19th. News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday. Subscribe to our free, daily newsletter.
Forbes
25-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
As Student Loan Wage Garnishment Resumes, Women Will Bear The Brunt
The U.S. Department of Education has announced that it will resume student loan wage garnishment for borrowers in default, ending a years-long reprieve that began early in the pandemic. For the first time in five years, Americans who have fallen behind on their federal student loans could see part of their paychecks seized to repay that debt. While this move affects millions of borrowers, this is likely to hit women borrowers the hardest, argues 19th News, an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Women hold the majority of outstanding student loan debt and earn less on average than men, making any wage seizure especially punishing for their finances. After a lengthy pause on collections during pandemic, the government is restarting aggressive collection efforts on defaulted student loans. The Education Department's Federal Student Aid office will resume collections on defaulted loans starting May 5, 2025. This means that borrowers who haven't made payments in 270 days or more are again subject to penalties like withheld tax refunds, Social Security offsets, and student loan wage garnishment. Women hold a disproportionate share of student debt, making the financial impact of student loans especially severe. Women are more likely to borrow for college and graduate school, carrying about two-thirds of the nation's $1.6 trillion student loan debt, according to the American Association of University Women. Several factors drive these gaps. First, women attend college in higher numbers than men, so more women borrow for education. Secondly, upon graduating, women face a persistent gender pay gap – earning about 83 cents for every dollar men earn in the workforce. Lower income means women have less disposable income for loan payments, often resulting in slower repayment. It's no surprise that women usually need extra time to become debt-free. As AAUW notes, many women must postpone milestones like saving for retirement or buying a home because of their student loans. In essence, the student debt crisis intertwines with the gender wage gap, leaving women in a financially precarious position. It should also be noted that the gender pay gap may underestimate the true gap given that it doesn't account for monetary benefits that are calculated based on a percentage of salary. These include retirement matching contributions, bonuses, and reduced Social Security benefits. Women of color, particularly Black and Latina borrowers, are at even greater risk of harm from renewed collections and student loan wage garnishment. These groups tend to graduate with higher debt balances and lower incomes, a double bind that makes default more likely. On average, Black women borrowers have higher student loan balances than their white peers. A year after completing graduate school, Black women owed over $75,000 in loans on average, far more than white or Latina women (who owed just over $56,000). Disparities in wealth and pay contribute to this gap: Black women working full-time are typically paid only 64 cents for every $1 paid to white, non-Hispanic men, and Latinas earn about 51 cents on that dollar, according to an analysis by the National Partnership for Women & Families. Such inequities mean women of color have fewer resources to draw on when loan bills come due. Crucially, default data reflect these struggles. A recent survey by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that Black and Hispanic student loan borrowers are far more likely to experience default than white borrowers. About 50% of Black and 40% of Hispanic borrowers surveyed had defaulted on a student loan at some point, compared to 29% of white borrowers. Given this data, the Department of Education's collections efforts could potentially be interpreted as siphoning more money from the paychecks of many Black and brown women who are already struggling to build wealth. Consequently, what appears on the surface to be a simple issue of student debt collection could be reframed as a consumer protection issue and a gender equity and racial justice issue since wage garnishment could widen existing economic disparities. The Department of Education has said it will notify student loan borrowers before initiating student loan wage garnishment, and it's urging those in default to contact the Default Resolution Group to work out a plan . Borrowers can often rehabilitate their loans or enroll in an income-driven repayment plan to avoid the harshest consequences. That offers some hope of relief, but outreach may not reach all affected individuals in time. Ultimately, the resumption of collections on student debt, without addressing underlying issues like the gender pay gap and predatory lending, could exacerbate gender inequality.
