Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

---

Only one-third of Texas voters approve of the GOP-led effort to redraw the state’s congressional map, according to a recent statewide poll, which found that independent and Democratic voters overwhelmingly opposed the mid-decade redistricting and would rather give control of Texas’ political maps to an appointed commission.

Just 13% of independent voters approve of state lawmakers redrawing the congressional map, while 41% are against it, according to the survey released Tuesday by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. Overall, 34% of voters said they approved and 41% said they disapproved of the effort, with nearly two-thirds of Republicans voicing support.

The new map, signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott on Aug. 29, aims to net five GOP seats in the 2026 midterms. The poll surveyed 1,200 voters across Texas between Aug. 22 and Sept. 1, going into the field just before lawmakers sent the map to Abbott’s desk.

Attitudes on Trump’s megabill

The Texas Politics Project poll also measured where Texas voters stand on a range of other issues, including the GOP’s tax and spending megabill approved earlier this summer. The majority of Democrats and independents have decidedly negative opinions about the legislation, fueling its underwater rating — 32% approval vs. 45% disapproval — among statewide voters.

Republicans polled had more favorable views. Sixty-five percent of GOP voters approve of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, with 28% expressing strong approval.

Few voters expect the megabill to actually lower their taxes and health care costs. Democrats and independents think the bill will increase how much they pay, according to the poll. Almost half of Republicans expect the bill to lower taxes, but just 21% said they anticipated lower health care costs.

Texans are also concerned about the rising prices of food and consumer goods, especially as the impacts of Trump's tariffs loom, the poll found. Only about a quarter of voters said their economic circumstances are better off now than they were a year ago.

Attitudes on THC and state marijuana laws

Voters said regulating THC products was the least important of the nine policy areas considered by the Texas Legislature this summer that were surveyed in the poll. More than 30% of voters said “comprehensively regulating hemp-derived products without banning them” is not important or not very important. Lawmakers gaveled out last week without banning or regulating most THC products.

Almost half of voters want the state’s current marijuana laws to be made less strict and another 16% of voters want the laws to be left alone. The majority of Republicans also want current laws left alone or made less strict, according to the poll, finding that most GOP voters remain at odds with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s push to outlaw products containing any amounts of the psychoactive compound in marijuana known as tetrahydrocannabinol.

Favorability and approval of Senate candidates

The poll also assessed the favorability of candidates in next year’s high-profile U.S. Senate race, which has attracted nationwide attention over Attorney General Ken Paxton’s primary challenge against incumbent Sen. John Cornyn.

Paxton won the highest marks among Republican voters, with 55% saying they held a favorable view of the three-term attorney general, while 42% think favorably of Cornyn. Multiple polls last month showed Paxton and Cornyn in a close race, with Cornyn narrowing Paxton’s early lead.

Half of Republicans said they did not know enough to form an opinion of Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Houston, who has been testing the waters of a Senate bid this summer. The National Republican Senate Committee — a powerful GOP fundraising group — urged Hunt last week to stop teasing a primary run.

On the Democratic side, former Dallas congressman and NFL linebacker Colin Allred heads into his second straight Senate bid with 63% of his party’s voters viewing him favorably, compared to 12% who held the opposite view. Thirty-one percent of Democratic voters said they have a favorable view of state Rep. James Talarico, who launched his Senate bid Tuesday, but more than 60% of polled Democrats did not know enough to have an opinion.

Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

---

Shape the future of Texas at the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin! We bring together Texas’ most inspiring thinkers, leaders and innovators to discuss the issues that matter to you. Get tickets now and join us this November.

TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.