diff --git a/packages/core/src/transfer_state.ts b/packages/core/src/transfer_state.ts
index d3d4134b814..0cd9cfcafbd 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/transfer_state.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/transfer_state.ts
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ export function retrieveTransferredState(
   // Locate the script tag with the JSON data transferred from the server.
   // The id of the script tag is set to the Angular appId + 'state'.
   const script = doc.getElementById(appId + '-state');
-  if (script?.textContent) {
+  if (script?.tagName === 'SCRIPT' && script.textContent) {
     try {
       // Avoid using any here as it triggers lint errors in google3 (any is not allowed).
       // Decoding of `<` is done of the box by browsers and node.js, same behaviour as G3
diff --git a/packages/core/test/transfer_state_spec.ts b/packages/core/test/transfer_state_spec.ts
index 3108a2eebf9..adb0184834b 100644
--- a/packages/core/test/transfer_state_spec.ts
+++ b/packages/core/test/transfer_state_spec.ts
@@ -13,7 +13,11 @@ import {DOCUMENT} from '../src/document';
 import {makeStateKey, TransferState} from '../src/transfer_state';
 
 function removeScriptTag(doc: Document, id: string) {
-  doc.getElementById(id)?.remove();
+  let node = doc.getElementById(id);
+  while (node) {
+    node.remove();
+    node = doc.getElementById(id);
+  }
 }
 
 function addScriptTag(doc: Document, appId: string, data: object | string) {
@@ -57,6 +61,24 @@ describe('TransferState', () => {
     expect(transferState.get(TEST_KEY, 0)).toBe(10);
   });
 
+  it('ignores non-script elements that clobber the transfer state id', () => {
+    const id = APP_ID + '-state';
+
+    const clobberingNode = doc.createElement('div');
+    clobberingNode.id = id;
+    clobberingNode.textContent = '{"test":999}';
+    doc.body.appendChild(clobberingNode);
+
+    const script = doc.createElement('script');
+    script.id = id;
+    script.setAttribute('type', 'application/json');
+    script.textContent = '{"test":10}';
+    doc.body.appendChild(script);
+
+    const transferState: TransferState = TestBed.inject(TransferState);
+    expect(transferState.get(TEST_KEY, 0)).toBe(0);
+  });
+
   it('is initialized to empty state if script tag not found', () => {
     const transferState: TransferState = TestBed.inject(TransferState);
     expect(transferState.get(TEST_KEY, 0)).toBe(0);