{"id":952,"date":"2024-11-13T11:10:19","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T11:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/?page_id=952"},"modified":"2024-11-15T15:31:16","modified_gmt":"2024-11-15T15:31:16","slug":"gender-panics-far-right-radicalization-and-the-effectiveness-of-anti-trans-political-ads","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2024\/section-2-policy-and-political-context\/gender-panics-far-right-radicalization-and-the-effectiveness-of-anti-trans-political-ads\/","title":{"rendered":"Gender panics, far-right radicalization, and the effectiveness of anti-trans political ads"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Dr. Thomas J. Billard<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Associate Professor in the School of Communication and, by courtesy, Department of Sociology at Northwestern University. Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Applied Transgender Studies, author of Voices for Transgender Equality: Making Change in the Networked Public Sphere<\/em> (2024, Oxford University Press), and editor (with Silvio Waisbord) of Public Scholarship in Communication Studies <\/em>(2024, University of Illinois Press).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twitter: @thomasjbillard
Email: billard@northwestern.edu<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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U.S. Election 2024<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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12. The campaigns\u2019 pandemic memory hole<\/a> (Prof Michael Serazio)
13. America\u2019s kingdom of contempt<\/a> (Prof Barry Richards)
14. Americanism, not globalism 2.0: Donald Trump and America\u2019s role in the world<\/a> (Prof Jason A. Edwards)
15. The politics of uncertainty: Mediated campaign narratives about Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine<\/a> (Dr Tetyana Lokot)
16. The U.S. elections and the future of European security: Continuity or disruption?<\/a> (Dr Garret Martin)
17. Trump\u2019s victory brings us closer to the new world disorder<\/a> (Prof Roman Gerodimos)
18. Abortion: Less important to voters than anticipated<\/a> (Dr Zo\u00eb Brigley Thompson)
19. Roe your vote?<\/a> (Dr Lindsey Meeks)
20. Gender panics, far-right radicalization, and the effectiveness of anti-trans political ads<\/a> (Dr Thomas J. Billard)
21. U.S. politics and planetary crisis in 2024<\/a> (Dr Reed Kurtz)
22. Trump and Musk for all mankind<\/a> (Prof Einar Thorsen)
23. Guns and the 2024 election<\/a> (Prof Robert J. Spitzer)
24. Echoes of Trump: Potential shifts in Congress\u2019s communication culture<\/a> (Dr Annelise Russell)<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Transgender people have become increasingly visible in American electoral politics as the Republican Party has made opposition to trans people and their rights a central plank of their social platform. In 2024, their anti-trans politics reached fever pitch. Between August 1st<\/sup> and Election Day, Republicans spent over $65 million dollars on television advertisements<\/a> about transgender topics in over a dozen states. The Trump campaign alone spent more than $19 million on two anti-trans ads<\/a> that aired almost 55,000 times in the month of October, mainly during football games in battleground states. This onslaught of anti-trans ads not only attacked Vice President Harris for her trans-inclusive policy positions, but also targeted Democratic candidates in at least eight different competitive races<\/a> for the House of Representatives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democratic operatives and progressive pollsters argued these ads were ineffective<\/a> and damaging to Republicans\u2019 image. For example, polling from progressive think tank Data For Progress<\/a> found that a majority of voters across political affiliations considered anti-trans ads \u201csad and shameful\u201d and 85% of Republicans reported believing that candidates should move away from anti-trans messaging. Others pointed to anecdotal evidence<\/a> of Republican candidates whose campaigns relied heavily on anti-trans messaging in the 2022 midterm elections losing their races as proof anti-transness was a losing position. But this data only tells part of the story. It overlooks the ongoing radicalization of the Republican base through strategic anti-trans rhetoric that capitalizes on public uncertainty and cultural divides over shifting gender norms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s true most Americans claim to support pro-trans legislation. Pew Research Center<\/a> data from 2022 show 64% of Americans favor anti-discrimination laws and policies for trans people and only 10% oppose. However, a closer inspection of the data reveals increasing radicalization of right-wing Americans on transgender topics. 66% of Republicans say society has gone too far in accepting transgender people, versus 15% of Democrats. A stunning 72% of Republicans support making it illegal for health care professionals to provide trans youth gender-affirming care; 69% support making it illegal for public schools to include references to gender identity in course materials; and 59% support investigating parents for child abuse if they allow their child to seek gender-affirming care. None of these positions enjoy even modest support from Democrats. This split extends to perceptions of the pace of societal change, with 70% Republicans feeling that views on transgender people are shifting too quickly (versus 21% of Democrats)\u2014a feeling that is more pronounced among men and white Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The radicalization around transgender issues stems from the rapid and, for some, disorienting changes in how transgender identity is viewed and understood in society. For many, the increasing acceptance of trans and nonbinary people has created uncertainty and confusion, leaving them feeling disoriented and struggling to make sense of what gender means during this period of rapid social change. As one research participant told Pew Research Center in their study of public attitudes<\/a> toward trans people, \u201cThe issue is so new to me I can\u2019t keep up. I don\u2019t know what to think about all of this new information. I\u2019m baffled by so many changes.\u201d This disorientation, which is disproportionately experienced by white conservatives, is then capitalized upon by far-right actors in media and politics. So-called \u201ctrad wife\u201d influencers on platforms like TikTok<\/a> have formed a movement around regressive and biologically-essentialized social roles for women and girls that intentionally retreats from advances in gender equality into a nostalgic fantasy of simpler times. The country\u2019s most popular podcast, hosted by serial disinformer<\/a> Joe Rogan, routinely features guests like Jordan Peterson (who built his name off teaching young men to \u201cimprove\u201d their lives<\/a> through \u201cre-masculinizing\u201d them) that compare the increasing acceptance of trans people to \u201csatanic ritual abuse.\u201d<\/a> And, under the direction of owner Elon Musk, the social media platform previously known as Twitter has pushed far-right content<\/a>, such as that of Matt Walsh, who has built a career off of stoking prejudice<\/a> against trans women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anti-transgender political ads similarly capitalized on this disorientation over changing meanings of gender in society, inciting moral panic around trans women and girls in sports and the increasing acceptance nonbinary people. These ads were incredibly effective<\/a> with the Republican base of suburban white people, according to both focus group research by Republican pollsters and Democratic testing. And given American football\u2019s status as a cultural bastion<\/a> for white hegemonic masculinity and \u201ctraditional family\u201d morality, the choice to air these ads during NFL and college football games was strategic. It is unsurprising, then, that the largest increases in vote share<\/a> for Republicans were among non-college-educated white men and women, who were a major segment of the audience for those ads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, Republican anti-trans political ads weren\u2019t effective due to overwhelming public transphobia, but rather fueled voter response driven by panic over shifting gender norms amplified by far-right media. While few, if any, voted solely on trans issues, many responded to the widespread panic over changing gender norms that trans people are a salient example of. The ongoing radicalization, particularly of straight white men and women, into regressive gender roles seeks to maintain a cultural and political status quo<\/a> that is certain and in which they currently hold power. The hateful rhetoric of Republican anti-trans ads offers a salve for their anxieties and a target for their outrage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Thomas J. Billard Associate Professor in the School of Communication and, by courtesy, Department of Sociology at Northwestern University. Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Applied Transgender Studies, author of Voices for Transgender Equality: Making Change in the Networked Public Sphere (2024, Oxford University Press), and editor (with Silvio Waisbord) of Public Scholarship in Communication […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":1008,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-952","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nGender panics, far-right radicalization, and the effectiveness of anti-trans political ads - Election Analysis - United States<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2024\/section-2-policy-and-political-context\/gender-panics-far-right-radicalization-and-the-effectiveness-of-anti-trans-political-ads\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gender panics, far-right radicalization, and the effectiveness of anti-trans political ads - Election Analysis - United States\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dr. Thomas J. 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