As I’ve commented on before, there’s an odd and unhelpful difference between what gets said about trans rights and what the public actually thinks:

I want to pick up a different angle: the claim that supporting trans rights is something imposed on women. That’s the tenor of Jenni Russell’s much discussed recent piece for The Times, headlined, “Starmer is taking 99.9% of women for fools”. Trans rights are presented as something supported by men, despite opposition from women…

[But] support for trans women using women’s toilets is higher among women than men. And to round it off, as the majority of people are women, what flows from the above is that the majority of supporters of trans women using women’s toilet are… women.

This applies on other aspects of trans rights too. For example, last year YouGov found women on balance supporting trans women using women’s toilets (45%-34%), using women’s changing rooms (40%-37%), and using women’s refuges (45%-30%). In each case, support among women was higher than among men by an average of thirteen points.

It’s the same picture again with new polling from YouGov about whether the Women’s Institute should admit trans women. A (slim) plurality of women agree, but a plurality of men disagree (37%-35% and 26%-48%).

So the overall opposition to the idea comes from men wanting to disregard what is the most popular viewpoint among women.

As I wrote in that earlier piece:

Saying that women should be listened to is good point to make. It’s an even better point to make if it’s then acted on with good evidence.

Get the essential polling book