Quote:Why did Trump and his allies devote so much attention and resources to something that seemingly affects a small number of people compared with top voter concerns like immigration, the economy, crime, abortion and democracy? Maybe because it worked. According to Harris’s leading super PAC, viewers shifted 2.7 percentage points toward Trump after watching one of these ads.

Clearly it helped paint Harris as a radical leftist, out of step with most of America. But as those of us who opposed Trump lick our wounds and take stock, it’s worth considering why these ads and rally cries resonated.

It is not because most Americans are bigots or haters or anti-L.G.B.T.Q. people. But many voters, including liberals and Democrats, disagree with positions Harris and the Democratic Party have taken on transgender issues. Polls show that most voters, while largely supportive of existing legal rights and protections for transgender people, have complicated views on other policies that fall under the umbrella of what’s commonly referred to as trans rights.

Quote:In recent years, the concepts of gender identity and the possibility of being born in the wrong body have been introduced as early as elementary school. But a Washington Post poll found that 77 percent of Americans do not want teachers discussing these ideas in kindergarten through third grade and more than half oppose trans identity being talked about even in middle school.