Affect Toward Transgender People, Political Awareness, and Support for Transgender Rights

• Author: Philip Edward Jones,Amy B. Becker
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X221090488
• Published date: 01 May 2022
• Date: 01 May 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X221090488

American Politics Research

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/1532673X221090488

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Article

In the years since the landmark decision in Obergefell v.

Hodges (2015) to legalize same-sex marriage across the

U.S., a shift in attention toward transgender rights has come

to define the agenda of the broader LGBT movement (Hackl

et al., 2016) and opened a “new front” in the culture wars

(Castle, 2019; Haider-Markel et al., 2019). A group that has

historically been marginalized in the struggle for LGBT

rights is now at the forefront of the movement for change

(Taylor et al., 2018).

Concurrent with this shift, research has focused on

explaining attitudes on transgender issues (see Haider-

Markel et al., 2019 for a review). Scholars highlight values

like partisanship, religiosity, egalitarianism, and authoritari-

anism (e.g., Castle, 2019; Jones et al., 2018); views of gender

roles and experience with discrimination (e.g., Becker &

Jones., 2020; Flores et al., 2020); and interpersonal contact

with transgender individuals (e.g., Tadlock et al., 2017).

Alongside these factors, attitudes toward transgender

rights follow a pattern of “group-centric” reasoning common

to other policy issues (Conover, 1988; Nelson & Kinder.,

1996). On this account, citizens’ policy attitudes are derived

at least in part from their affect toward “the social groups they

see as the principal beneficiaries (or victims) of the policy”

(Nelson & Kinder., 1996, p. 1056). In line with this theory,

research shows respondents with positive views of transgen-

der people are more supportive of their rights (Lewis et al.,

2017; Jones et al., 2018).

Importantly, making the link between views of a group

and attitudes on policies that affect their rights takes some

understanding of politics, which not all citizens possess to

the same degree. In this research note, we show that political

awareness strengthens the link between feelings toward

transgender people and support for their rights. It is the most,

not the least engaged, who are most likely to rely on group

affect to determine their policy preferences.

Political Affect and Group-Centric

Politics

Affect toward social groups looms large in explanations of

American public opinion (e.g., Converse, 1964; Conover,

1988). When policy issues are clearly connected to a particu-

lar social group, “how much people like or dislike a group

should strongly affect how sympathetic or hostile they are to

the group’s cause” (Conover, 1988, p. 64). Those with warm

feelings toward a group are likely to support policies that

benefit them; those with negative affect prefer policies that

do harm (Nelson & Kinder., 1996; Jones et al., 2018; Lewis

et al., 2017).

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090488APRXXX10.1177/1532673X221090488American Politics ResearchJones and Becker

-

article2022

1Political Science and International Relations, University of Delaware,

Newark, DE, USA

2Department of Communication, Loyola University Maryland, Baltimore,

MD, USA

Corresponding Author:

Philip Edward Jones, Political Science and International Relations,

University of Delaware, 347 Smith Hall, Newark, DE 19716, USA.

Email: pejones@udel.edu

Affect Toward Transgender People,

Political Awareness, and Support for

Transgender Rights

Philip Edward Jones1 and Amy B. Becker2

Abstract

As with public opinion on other policy issues, attitudes toward transgender rights are partly driven by “group-centric”

reasoning. Those with more positive feelings toward transgender people are more likely to support policies that protect their

rights. But linking group affect with policies impacting members of that group requires some knowledge and understanding

of politics, which not all citizens possess to the same extent. In this research note, we demonstrate that political awareness

moderates the relationship between affect toward transgender people and support for their civil rights. ANES data from

2016 and 2020 show that more politically sophisticated respondents were more likely to connect their views of transgender

people with policies that protect their rights. These results suggest that group-centric thinking is most prevalent among the

most, not least, politically aware.

Keywords

affect, transgender rights, political awareness, group-centric politics

2023, Vol. 51(1) 76–80