More than three-quarters of New Jerseyans (77%) believe that middle schools and high schools should be required to notify parents if students seek to identify as a different gender on their school records, an issue that is increasingly dominating campaigns for the state legislature this year, a Monmouth University poll released today shows.
The matter made headlines this summer after Attorney General Matt Platkin filed a lawsuit against three Monmouth County municipalities for requiring parental notification of gender identification issues. A Superior Court Judge has temporarily blocked the towns from implementing the policy for now, and a significant number of Democratic lawmakers have distanced themselves from the policy.
Support for a parental notification mandate goes to 81% of parents and transcends party lines: 61% of Democrats, 81% of independents, and 92% of Republicans. The issue polls seven points better in South Jersey, where most competitive legislative races are taking place, than in the northern and central parts of the state.
Nearly eight in ten New Jersey residents of color (79%) support parental notification.
More than half of the state (55%) believe parents should still be notified even if schools are not required to, while 41% say schools should let students and their parents address this privately. Among parents, support for notification goes up about four percentage points.
More Democrats (58%) think parents and students should deal with gender identity issues than requiring schools to do so when schools are not required to notify them (38%), but that number is at 58%-39% among independents and 76%-23% among Democrats. A majority of New Jersey adults of color (56%) want to be notified by the school, even if it’s not required.
While a majority of New Jerseyans (60%-36%) and parents (64%) approve of teaching “the range of ways people express their gender,” at the high school level, support drops significantly for lower grades: 42%-53% in middle school and 22%-75% in elementary school.
“There is more agreement on how gender identity education should be handled at the younger grade levels, but it seems the public debate is being framed by those who are opposed to gender identity recognition at any age,” said Patrick Murray, the Monmouth University Polling Institute director. “This can muddy the waters for those who may hold a more nuanced view but are most concerned about what is going on at the elementary school level.”
Most Democrats (56%) disapprove of gender expression curriculum at the elementary school level, while 41% support it, but disapproval numbers among independents are at 78% and Republicans at 97%. In grades six through eight, 68% of Democrats approve, while 56% of independents and 86% of Republicans disapprove. A majority of non-white New Jerseyans (56%) disapprove.
The Monmouth poll says that 79% of New Jerseyans have been paying attention to the handling of identity and gender issues by the state’s public schools.
Forty-five percent of the state thinks schools are doing too much about teaching gender identity, while 16% say they haven’t done enough. That number jumps to 83% among Republicans and 51% among independents; 39% of Democrats say schools are spending the right amount of time, and 27% believe they’re not spending enough time.
More than half of New Jerseyans (53%) believe gender is assigned at birth, while 36% say a person can be assigned a sex different from the one they were born with.
Members of political parties are split on that: 85% of Republicans think gender is assigned at birth, while 63% of Democrats think people can change their gender identity. More than half of independents (57%) and 27% of Democrats agree with Republicans.
Among New Jerseyans of color, 52% say sex is determined at birth, and 40% view gender reassignment as acceptable.
Bathrooms and high school sports
By a 54%-27% margin, New Jersey adults want boys and girls in separate classes based on their birth gender assignment during sex education classes, and by a 58%-28% margin, New Jerseyans say bathroom usage should be based on birth gender if boys and girls facilities are the only ones available; 55% support gender-inclusive bathrooms in schools.
“It does seem clear that a large cross-section of New Jerseyans are uncomfortable with discussing these issues in elementary school even though the state has different gender identity education standards for various grade levels,” Murray stated. “An open question is to what extent those distinctions are understood by the public.”
A majority of New Jerseyans oppose transgender teenagers from playing on sports teams other than ones reflecting their birth gender assignment. By a 59%-27% margin, people think a transgender boy should play on a girls team, and 64% say a transgender girl should play on a boys team.
“Most New Jerseyans, like most Americans, do not recognize transgender identity in a broad sense,” Murray explained. “This is reflected in how they view these issues being dealt with in schools.”
The Monmouth University Poll was conducted between August 10-14 with a sample size of 814 New Jersey adults and a margin of error of +/1 5.4%.