Study conducted in Miami area found that when voters had even a ten-minute conversation with a canvasser discussing transgender issues, they were more likely to support transgender rights:
By GILLIAN MOHNEY
Apr 7, 2016, 4:36 PM ET
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ten-minute-face-face-conversation-reduce-prejudice-study/story?id=38231548
"The entire interaction took just about 10 minutes, and lead study author David Brockman said about 70 percent of residents who opened their door finished the entire interaction. After three months, the voters who took part in the initial conversation about transgender issues were much more likely to exhibit "positive" feelings toward transgender people compared to a placebo's group response. The results were not measurably different if the canvasser they talked to was transgender or not."
This is why I think any publicity helps. Even if it is negative. Isn't there a quote to that effect? "There is no such thing as bad publicity"?
Here's a link to the full published results of the study in the journal Science:
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/352/6282/220.full