A majority of Americans believe that transgender individuals should be allowed to serve in the military, according to an exclusive Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll.
The July 26-28 poll suggested that the country largely disagrees with President Donald Trump's announcement this week that he will ban transgender personnel from the armed forces.
When asked to weigh in on the debate, 58 per cent of adults agreed with the statement, "Transgender people should be allowed to serve in the military." Twenty-seven per cent said they should not while the rest answered "don't know."
Democrats mostly supported military service by transgender Americans while Republicans were more evenly split.
Among Republicans, 32 per cent said transgender Americans should be allowed to serve, while 49 per cent said they should not. Another 19 per cent of Republicans said they don't know.
The public was also divided over the impact of banning transgender service members. Some 32 per cent said it would "hurt morale" in the military while 17 per cent said it would "improve morale." Another 33 per cent felt it would "have no impact" and the rest said they don't know.
When asked about the impact on military capabilities, 14 per cent said prohibiting transgender service members made the military "more capable" while 43 per cent said "no impact," 22 per cent said "less capable" and the rest said they don't know.
The president's announcement, made in posts on his Twitter account, surprised many senior military officers and appeared to pre-empt an ongoing Pentagon review into its inclusion of transgender service members.
The United States' top military officer, Marine Corps. General Joseph Dunford, said the military will not alter its current policies until it receives additional guidance from Trump's secretary of defence.
Roger Kaikko, 61, a Trump voter near Cleveland, who took the poll, said he disagrees with the president.
"Even the president shouldn't be able to take rights away from some people just because he may not like them," Kaikko said. "They're people too. Unless they're causing problems, they should serve just like anybody else."
