Poll: John Cornyn’s Approval Rating at 36% Among Texas Republicans Following Gun Control Legislation

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) is on the outs with his right-leaning constituents in Texas after he led the charge on working with Democrats to pass gun control legislation, according to a poll.

In the CWS Research/Defend Texas Liberty PAC poll, respondents were asked if they viewed Cornyn favorably at two points in the survey, once before subsequent poll questions outlining his work with Democrats and a second time following such questions. At first, Cornyn’s favorability and unfavorability rating clocked in at 46 percent. Of respondents, 18 percent said they viewed him “Very Favorable,” 28 percent stated, “Somewhat Favorable,” 22 percent perceived him as “somewhat unfavorable,” and those who found him “Very Unfavorable” made up 24 percent of participants.

Before further questions regarding Cornyn’s role in the gun control legislation that was signed into law by President Joe Biden earlier this month, those surveyed were asked about a potential 2026 Republican primary matchup between the senator and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Cornyn was 20 percentage points behind Paxton, at 31 percent and 51 respectively, with an additional 18 percent undecided. If Cornyn took all of the undecided faction, he would still lose to Paxton by a margin of two percent.

The poll later asked participants if they found him more or less favorable after learning Biden called Cornyn a “rational Republican” for spearheading the gun control effort on the right. Changes in participants’ perceptions of the senator were even more exaggerated, with a mere 18 percent viewing him as “More Favorable” and a whopping 70 percent finding him “Less Favorable.”

As Breitbart News reported:

Cornyn’s gun control bill expands background checks for some gun buyers, uses taxpayer money to incentivize states to enact red flag laws, and broadens the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) prohibited purchasers list by using domestic violence statutes to cover dating relationships.

Respondents were again asked to describe how they viewed Cornyn, and his favorability took a significant hit compared to the numbers recorded the first time they were asked. Just 36 percent had a favorable view of Cornyn, with only 15 percent stating he was “Very Favorable,” and a majority of 59 percent rating him as unfavorable, with 35 percent of that population deeming him “Very unfavorable.”

When asked a second time about a possible 2026 Cornyn-Paxton matchup in the Republican primary, 28 percent said they would vote for Cornyn, while 56 percent said they would support Paxton.

The poll sampled 1,918 Texans who cast ballots “in the 2022 Republican party primary or primary runoff” between July 9-10 and has a margin of error of 2.2 percent with a 95 percent confidence level. It was conducted via SMS and “interactive voice response calls.” In total, 78 percent of participants identified as Republicans, while the remaining 22 percent said they were independents.