KFF/The Washington Post Trans Survey
The KFF/Washington Post is a partnership combining survey research and reporting to better inform the public. The KFF/Washington Post Trans Survey is the 36th in the series and focuses on the experiences of trans adults living in the U.S.
The survey was designed to reach a representative sample of adults in the U.S. who identify as transgender or as a trans adults along with a comparison representative of the general population of U.S. adults. The survey was conducted November 10 – December 1, 2022, online and by telephone among a nationally representative sample of 515 U.S. adults who identify as trans and another 823 cisgender U.S. adults who do not identify as trans and their gender is the same as their sex assigned at birth. All survey respondents received a financial incentive for participating in the survey. Sampling, data collection, weighting, and tabulation were managed by SSRS of Glenn Mills, Pennsylvania. Teams from KFF and The Washington Post worked together to develop the questionnaire and analyze the data, and both
organizations contributed financing for the survey.
Sampling and Recruitment
Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish among a nationally representative sample of 515 trans adults. The sample of trans adults was recruited using three probability-based online panels, the Gallup Panel (n=252), NORC’s AmeriSpeak panel (n=146), and the SSRS Opinion Panel (n=85). All three of these nationally representative panels are recruited using probability-based methodologies (SSRS and Gallup recruit using both RDD and ABS, while NORC relies on ABS). In order to interview under-surveyed populations, the project also includes telephone interviews from calling back respondents from previous KFF surveys (n=29) or from previous SSRS Omnibus surveys (n=3) who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or trans.
The comparison sample of the U.S. adult population (n=823) was conducted in English and Spanish using the SSRS Opinion Panel either online (n=784) or panel members who do not use the internet were reached by phone (n=39).
Weighting and Data Processing
Trans adults from the combined phone and panel samples were weighted separately to match the sample’s demographics to the national U.S. adult trans population using data from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) as well as the Williams Institute’s analysis of BRFSS, which used small area estimation to model demographics for states that had not recently asked the sexual orientation and gender identity module. The weighting parameters included age, education, race/ethnicity, and region. The weights take into account differences in the probability of selection for each sample type (callback phone sample and panel). This includes adjustment for the sample design, within household probability of selection, and the design of the panel-recruitment procedure.
The full sample of U.S. adults was weighted to match the sample’s demographics to the national U.S. adult population using data from the Census Bureau’s 2021 Current Population Survey (CPS). Weighting parameters included sex, age, education, race/ethnicity, region, and education. The sample was also weighted to match patterns of civic engagement from the September 2019 Volunteering and Civic Life Supplement data from the CPS. The sample was also weighted to match frequency of internet use from the National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS) for Pew Research Center. The weights take into account differences in the probability of selection for each sample type (callback phone sample and panel). This includes adjustment for the sample design, within household probability of selection, and the design of the panel-recruitment procedure.
The margin of sampling error including the design effect for the trans adult sample is plus or minus 7 percentage points and plus or minus 4 percentage points for the non-trans adult sample. For results based on other subgroups, the margin of sampling error may be higher. Sample sizes and margins of sampling error for other subgroups are available by request. Sampling error is only one of many potential sources of error and there may be other unmeasured error in this or any other public opinion poll. KFF and The Washington Post are a charter members of the Transparency Initiative of the American Association for Public Opinion Research.
Each organization bears the sole responsibility for the work that appears under its name. The project team from KFF included: Mollyann Brodie, Ph.D., Ashley Kirzinger, Ph.D., Audrey Kearney, Alex Montero, and Grace Sparks. The project team from The Washington Post included: Scott Clement and Emily Guskin. Special thanks to Eran Ben-Porath, Ph.D. and Jazmyne Sutton, Ph.D. from SSRS, as well as Jenny Marlar, Ph.D. (Gallup), Jenny Benz, Ph.D. (NORC) for their contributions to the sampling design.