The number of trans athletes is tiny, especially compared to public perceptions

 

A recent study on the prominence of trans athletes in the NCAA reveals a major juxtaposition between truth and perception.

The results show that 15% of American adults think that between 1% and 5% of NCAA athletes are transgender, and 14% of Americans think between 6% and 25% of student athletes are trans.

Those numbers are wildly inaccurate: In 2024, NCAA President Charlie Baker told Congress that fewer than 10 of the NCAA’s more than 500,000 athletes were transgender. 

An NCAA spokesperson confirmed that the current number of student-athletes competing in women’s sports who identify as transgender is effectively zero, in accordance with the administration’s executive order forbidding their participation.

The false perspective could be a reason that polls show most Americans are uncomfortable with trans athletes in women sports because they believe more are competing than actually are.

When people hear politicians and athletes making a big deal out of trans women in sports, some believe what they’re saying blindly instead of actually researching for themselves.

Despite this clear reality, only 31 percent of adults said none or less than 1 percent of student athletes are transgender.

Still, the survey found that a majority of Americans oppose transgender student athletes playing on sports teams that match their gender identity, rather than their birth sex with 51 percent of American adults opposing it strongly.