Newly published polling data has indicated that Oxford citizens are divided over issues surrounding trans rights.
The data, published by the news website UnHerd in association with the polling company Focal Data, resulted from asking respondents whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement “it is acceptable for adolescent children to make their own decisions about their gender identity.”
In the Oxford East constituency, 12% of people strongly agreed with the statement, 33% mildly agreed, 18% mildly disagreed, 9% strongly disagreed, and 28% remained undecided.
The attitude in Oxford West and Abingdon was less supportive, the data showing that 11% strongly agreed with the statement, 28% mildly agreed, 19% mildly disagreed, 11% strongly disagreed, and 31% remained undecided.
Both constituencies ranked in the top third of constituencies surveyed nationally in terms of support for the statement. Oxford East was ranked the 60th most supportive of the 632 constituencies surveyed, while Oxford West and Abingdon ranked as the 208th.
Though a plurality expressed support for the statement in both constituencies, a majority of respondents did not. Overall, only in seven constituencies across the United Kingdom (not including Northern Ireland), did a majority support the statement.
The publishing of this data comes after a slew of transphobic stickers were posted around Oxford city centre during Michaelmas, echoing similar campaigns around the world. The stickers included comments such as “Woman. Noun. Adult human female,” “women don’t have penises” and “auto-gynephilia.”
Home Office figures published in October showed an increase in hate crime during the 2018-19 year. The total of 2,333 transgender identity hate crimes represented an increase of 37% from 2017-18.
UnHerd and Focaldata utilised the technique Multilevel Regression with Post-Stratification (MRP) in order to collate their data. Using an online panel provider, data was collected from 21,119 respondents between January 15 and November 4. MRP does not produce separate individual constituency polls, but looks for patterns across constituencies in order to produce a result.
The Oxford Student Union’s LGBTQ campaign declined to comment for this story.
