NEWS

For example, support for restricting the ability of medical professionals from providing gender-affirming care to minors has risen from 46% in 2022 to 56% in 2025, according to the Pew Research Center.

We wanted to know what factors contribute to majority support among Americans for these measures. We found that authoritarian attitudes – the desire for social conformity and an aversion to difference – play an important role in Americans’ willingness to restrict transgender rights.

Here, we refer to authoritarianism not as a type of political system or the characteristics of a leader, but rather as a person’s preference for social conformity and desire to suppress social difference.