Republican anti-trans ad spending failed to sway voters, officials say

Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and Democratic Representative Sarah McBride agree that Republicans’ focus on anti-trans politics failed in last week’s midterm elections. McBride called the approach a flop during a Monday press call with the Human Rights Campaign.

DeSantis made a similar assessment while speaking at the Florida state Capitol days earlier. He said Republicans spent hundreds of millions of dollars across the country on transgender ads, but that issue did not motivate voters.

“Anti-trans politics was a flop this election.”

The Human Rights Campaign reports that Republicans poured $400 million into anti-trans ads during this election cycle. McBride said Americans are tired of a politics of cruelty that does nothing to lower costs or address corruption.

A survey by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner of 750 voters nationwide supports McBride’s assertion. The firm found that 47 percent of voters saw ads criticizing Democrats for allowing transgender people to compete in women’s sports or for allowing gender-changing surgery on children.

When asked if they wanted to hear more, less, or the same about trans issues during the election, 65 percent of voters said they wanted to hear less, while only 14 percent wanted to hear more. Comparatively, 62 percent wished they had heard more about the cost of living.

Voters also rejected the idea that the Republican focus on transgender people and children was appropriate. Fifty-eight percent agreed that the obsession was strange and over the top, including 61 percent of young men and 62 percent of independent voters.

Only 3 percent of Republican voters mentioned trans issues when explaining why they supported Republican candidates. Just 2 percent cited trans people in women’s sports, and 1 percent mentioned gender-affirming surgery for children.