When Caitlyn Jenner revealed herself on the cover of Vanity Fair, you might have tweeted all the praise-hands emojis possible. And though there were a few trolls calling for her Olympic gold medal to be revoked, a major new survey shows that the rest of America is totally on board too.
The survey, conducted by NBC News and the University of Pennsylvania, asked a national sample of more than 2,000 adults about transgender issues and how Caitlyn's transition will affect American culture. Eighty-two percent of respondents said transgender people face stigmas and negative social judgments in their communities, but 76 percent predicted people would be more accepting 10 years from now.
And Americans said celebrities like Caitlyn might help with that social change. Forty-six percent of respondents said her public transition will "help a little" to make people more accepting, and 20 percent said it would "help a lot." But Republicans were more likely than Democrats to say her transition wouldn't help, even though Caitlyn herself is a Republican.
Caitlyn has responded to critics saying she's doing this all for publicity by saying, "I'm not doing it for money. I'm doing it to help my soul and help other people." And if this survey is right, she'll certainly be helping lots of people for years to come.
Megan Friedman is the former managing editor of the Newsroom at Hearst. She's worked at NBC and Time, and is a graduate of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism.
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