Do Maine voters even want to keep men out of women’s athletics? New poll has answer

Maine residents are more aligned with President Donald Trump than their own governor over the concept of men, even those who say they are women, participating in womens ‘athletics.

Trump has declared that the U.S. government recognizes two genders, male and female, and has worked to halt the promotion of the vast range of alternative sexual lifestyle choices. He issued an executive order to bar males from girls’ and women’s competitions.

Maine’s governor, Janet Mills, has insisted on defying Trump, and the federal Office of Civil Rights in the Health and Human Services Department, and pushing for those making those lifestyle choices to participate where they choose.

Fox News has pointed out Maine’s refusal to follow the rules has left the state in “noncompliance with Title IX” and the state has been referred to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.

Now the results of a polling by the University of New Hampshire reveal that Mills is off base, when it comes to her voters.

The poll confirms that some two-thirds of the state’s residents, 64%, believe transgender athletes “definitely should not” or “probably should not” participate in girls’ and women’s sports.

“Only 29% of Maine residents believed that transgender athletes ‘probably should’ or ‘definitely should’ compete against girls and women in sports,” the report said.

Even among Democrats whose party has promoted the transgender ideology extensively during the tenure in Washington of Joe Biden, only 56% endorsed men who call themselves women in women’s sprots.

Half of the poll’s respondents said the enforcement of those standards should be at the federal level, another 41% said it should be up to the states.

The polling surveyed 1,057 Maine residents from March 24-30, with a margin of error of 3%.

The report described how officials in the state continue “to thumb their nose at Trump’s ‘No Men in Women’s Sports’ executive order from February.

The HHS said the state’s refusal to follow the law has been referred to the Department of Justice.

Maine officials have said they are following state law, suggesting that supersedes federal law on this question.

“The situation involving the trans athlete at Greely High School attracted national attention after Maine Republican state Rep. Laurel Libby identified the athlete by name with a photograph in a social media post. Libby was later censured by the Maine legislature, and she has since filed a lawsuit to have it overturned,” the report said.

OCR Acting Director Anthony Archeval explained, “What HHS is asking of the Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals’ Association (MPA) and Greely High School is simple — protect female athletes’ rights. Girls deserve girls-only sports without male competitors. And if Maine won’t come to the table to voluntarily comply with Title IX, HHS will enforce Title IX to the fullest extent permitted by the law.”