Poll: majority of Texas voters consider partisan gerrymandering a major problem

A new poll shows the majority of Texas voters are concerned about partisan gerrymandering as the state fights in court to keep newly redrawn political maps, which the GOP-controlled legislature created to favor Republicans.

More than two-thirds of Lone Star State voters — 68% to be exact —told pollsters with the University of Houston and Texas Southern University that partisan redistricting is a major problem. Another 21% consider it a minor problem, while only 11% said they’re unconcerned.

UH’s Hobby School of Public Affairs and TSU’s Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs asked registered voters across the state about redistricting as part of a larger survey about bills passed during the second special session of the Texas Legislature.

“Overall, we found wide agreement that partisan redistricting is a problem, with almost 90% saying it is a problem and 68% saying it is a major problem,” Hobby School Executive Director Renée Cross said in a statement. “But as with the other bills we asked Texans to consider, we found stark divisions between Democrats and Republicans on the question.”

While 91% of Democrats called partisan gerrymandering a major problem, just 41% of Republicans agree. However, 77% of independents consider the matter a major concern. Even so, another 36% of GOP voters identified gerrymandering is a minor problem, meaning more than three out of four Republicans voiced at least some concern about it.

Multiple states have adopted independent commissions to draw single-member districts in an effort to make the process more fair. That notion is appealing to many Texas voters, according to the poll.

Nearly half of voters, or 46%, want an independent commission to create political maps, while just 29% would rather leave that in the legislature’s hands, according to the poll. Another 25% of voters said they were unsure.

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This article appears in Oct. 2-15, 2025.