Gender Identity Ranks Last Among Voter Priorities in CNN Poll

Only 46% of voters rate gender identity issues as "extremely" or "very" important, trailing the economy, health care, and voting rights.

By John Riley on October 7, 2026 @JRileyMW

Illustration by smartboy10 via iStockphoto

Policies related to gender identity rank lowest among the issues American voters consider important to their vote in next month’s midterm elections, according to a CNN poll.

Conducted by independent research company SSRS, the poll surveyed 1,206 U.S. adults online and by telephone September 16-17, including 867 registered voters. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for all adults and 4.1 points for registered voters.

The poll asked respondents to assess President Donald Trump’s job performance and his handling of specific issues. Registered voters were also asked which party’s congressional candidates they favored and which issues would influence their vote.

Just 33% of Americans approve of Trump’s job performance, while 67% disapprove. His lowest approval rating is on inflation, at 20%, followed by the war in Iran at 26%, the economy at 27%, helping the middle class at 28%, and tariffs and foreign affairs at 29% each.

Americans largely disapprove of both parties in Congress, with just 26% approving of Democrats’ job performance and 24% approving of Republicans’.

On a generic congressional ballot, 49% of registered voters favored a Democratic candidate in November, compared to 41% who favored a Republican.

A super-majority of U.S. adults — two-thirds — said Trump’s policies had worsened economic conditions, while just 21% said they had improved them.

A plurality of registered voters — 44% — viewed their November vote as a message of opposition to Trump, compared to 19% who viewed it as a message of support. The remaining 37% said their vote would not send a message about the president.

The economy topped registered voters’ priorities, with 68% rating it as extremely important to their congressional vote, followed by voting rights and election integrity at 61%, inflation at 60%, health care at 54%, and immigration at 50%.

Nearly half of registered voters — 48% — rated the war in Iran as extremely important to their vote, while 32% rated it very important and 17% moderately important.

Policies regarding gender identity ranked lowest among the issues surveyed, with 25% of registered voters rating them extremely important, 21% very important, 22% moderately important, and 32% not that important. That last figure was the highest for any issue in the poll.

Despite those numbers, Republicans are doubling down on attack ads linking Democratic candidates to transgender participation in sports and transition-related surgeries for minors — betting that voters will see Democrats as out of step with their values and support Republican candidates.

Many Democrats are still weighing how to respond to anti-transgender attack ads while retaining support from liberal and LGBTQ voters and appealing to Americans with more traditional views of gender.

Some Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), have adopted Republican framing on transgender issues. Others, including former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who is challenging a Republican incumbent, have mocked Republicans’ focus on transgender issues at the expense of voters’ other priorities. Still others avoid the subject, pivoting to other issues when asked about gender identity.

Whether those attacks will sway voters remains to be seen. CNN’s poll shows that voters place greater importance on the economy, inflation, health care, and voting rights and election integrity.