Do voters support redistricting efforts? What poll shows about Texas, California

Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald on Aug 29, 2025

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Most Americans oppose redistricting efforts in Texas and California, though Democrats and Republicans do not hold consistent views about both states, according to new polling.

In the latest Emerson College survey, 54% of respondents said Texas’ congressional redistricting attempt is a bad idea, while 46% said it is a good idea.

Similarly, 56% said California’s push to redraw congressional lines is a bad idea, while 44% said it is a good idea.

“Support for redistricting looks similar overall for Texas and California, but the partisan swings tell a different story,” Spencer Kimball, the executive director of Emerson College polling, said in a poll write-up.

Among Republicans, 77% said they support redistricting in Texas, a red state, while just 44% say the same for California, a blue state.

Likewise, most Democrats, 52%, favor redistricting in California, while just 21% said the same for Texas.

The poll sampled 1,000 registered voters Aug. 25-26 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

It comes the same day Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a redistricting bill that redraws the state’s congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterms. Mid-decade redistricting is unusual, as it usually only happens after each census.

Under the new GOP-friendly map, Republicans hope to pick up five additional House seats, according to CNN.

“Texas is now more red in the United States Congress,” Abbott said in a video posted to X.

President Donald Trump previously expressed that the GOP was “entitled to five more seats” in the Lone Star State, according to Politico.

In response, officials in California have moved to conduct their own mid-decade redistricting.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, on Aug. 21, signed into law a redistricting plan that would likely help Democrats to pick up five more seats in the House in 2026, according to CBS News. The change must be approved by voters, though, and it will appear on ballots Nov. 4.

“They fired the first shot, Texas. We wouldn’t be here had Texas not done what they just did,” Newsom said at a signing event. “We’re neutralizing what occurred (in Texas) and we’re giving the American people a fair chance.”

A handful of other states have also signaled they may move to gerrymander their congressional maps ahead of midterms, McClatchy News previously reported.

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