If admiration and support for female athletes drive support for prohibiting transgender women from participating in women’s sports, then those who favor Title IX should also favor bans. Instead, 43% of Title IX supporters favored restrictions, compared with 70% of Title IX opponents.

Our findings – that negative attitudes toward women and opposition to Title IX predict support for banning transgender women from sports that match their gender identity – hold even after accounting for other factors like partisanship, ideology and demographic characteristics.

The debate over transgender athletes is often framed as a matter of protecting women. Our findings complicate that narrative: People with the most negative attitudes toward women – and toward policies that protect women’s sports – are the most supportive of banning transgender women from women’s sports.