Support for transgender people serving in the military has plunged over the past six years, according to a Gallup poll released Monday.

The polling company found that 58% of adults responding to a recent survey favored letting openly transgender men and women serve in the armed forces, down from 66% in a 2021 questionnaire and 71% in 2019.

Gallup reported administering the survey during the week President Trump returned to office and issued the first of two executive orders reinstating a ban on “openly transgender service members.”

“The overall drop in support for transgender military service is driven by Republicans and, to a lesser degree, independents,” Megan Brenan, a Gallup senior editor, wrote in a summary of the findings.

Just 23% of self-identified Republican respondents supported transgender troops, down from 43% in 2021 and 2019.

Among independents, 62% supported the idea, down from 66% in 2021 and 78% in 2019.

Support for trans soldiers remained substantially unchanged among Democrats at 88% in 2019, 87% in 2021 and 84% this year.

Gallup noted that President Barack Obama first allowed transgender troops by lifting a ban in mid-2016 during his last year in office.

Mr. Trump restored the ban a year later at the start of his first term. A White House memo at the time claimed transgender troops “hinder military effectiveness and lethality, disrupt unit cohesion, and tax military resources.”

According to Gallup, public support for trans soldiers started dropping “several months” after President Joseph R. Biden reversed that ban in 2021.

LGBTQ rights advocates have challenged the Trump administration’s most recent actions in court, arguing that they discriminate unlawfully against transgender people based on their gender identity.

Gallup conducted a randomized national telephone survey of 1,001 adults on Jan. 21-27. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.