If progressives think pushing the transgender agenda in schools is popular in blue states, they should think again.

New Jersey may be a reliable blue state in federal elections, but the state’s residents, in many ways, reject transgenderism in schools, a recent Monmouth poll found.

Majorities oppose boys participating in girls’ sports (64%), so-called gender identity being taught in elementary schools (75%), students using opposite-gender bathrooms (58%), and schools not telling parents about their child's transgender identity (77%), among other aspects of the woke agenda that liberal school board members and school administrators support.

So while voters in blue states might not outright reject transgender ideology, they understand that it creates problems, especially in schools. They acknowledge that parental rights matter, as does protecting the innocence of small children.

Taxpayers fund public schools, and employees at these schools work for the community's residents, not the other way around. That means schools should not withhold information from parents about their children, nor should they indoctrinate six-year-olds with a false view of gender that could lead to gender dysphoria, body dysmorphia, and the depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideations that come with these mental health disorders. Schools should prioritize improving their students' mental health, not deteriorating it.

New Jersey residents also seem to be aware that boys, on average, have an athletic edge over girls. This makes sense because boys are not girls, they cannot become girls, and no girls have ever played in the NFL, NBA, NHL, or MLB, nor is that likely to happen anytime soon. Yet, people see stories on the news about boys winning NCAA national championships and high school sports state championships . They can see the threat boys pose to girls' sports.

If residents of one of the bluer states in the country feel this way, it indicates that fighting back against transgenderism and wokeism in education is a winning issue nationwide. While majorities in ultraliberal cities such as Berkeley, California, or Seattle, Washington, may feel differently, those areas are on the political fringes and do not represent American values. However, majorities in the suburbs of those same deep blue states likely have common sense on these issues.

It is time school boards and school administrators start listening to the people who fund government-run schools and send their children to these schools. Parents want their children educated, not indoctrinated.

Tom Joyce ( @TomJoyceSports ) is a political reporter for the New Boston Post in Massachusetts.