San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Republicans still supporting Cornyn despite gun bill role
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has not lost any support among Texas Republicans since striking a deal with Democrats on bipartisan gun safety legislation, despite receiving a chorus of boos at the state GOP convention last week, a new poll found.
Sixty-eight percent of Texas Republicans say they support Cornyn, the same as in surveys conducted just before the May 24 mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, according to a Morning Consult poll released hours before the Senate voted on the legislation last week. The percent of those who say they disapprove of Cornyn, however, rose from 11 percent to 17 percent.
Cornyn also maintained the support of 43 percent of all Texas voters, unchanged from previous polls. A third of independents said they supported Cornyn, and 22 percent of Democrats supported the senator.
The poll results come as the four-term senator has faced criticism for working across the aisle on the legislation from conservatives, including former President Donald Trump, who last week blasted Cornyn as a “RINO,” short for “Republican in name only.” And in a resolution at the state GOP convention this month in Houston, delegates rebuked Cornyn for working on the legislation, which they say violates their “Godgiven rights.”
The legislation would be the first significant tightening of federal gun laws since 1994, bolstering background checks for gun buyers under 21 and restricting access to firearms for dating partners convicted of domestic
abuse. It also provides funding for mental health programs and school security and for states to enact red flag laws.
The Morning Consult poll of 2,420 Texas voters was conducted between June 11 and 20. The bipartisan agreement was announced June 12. The survey carried a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
The poll also found that Gov. Greg Abbott is the most popular Republican official in Texas, with 85 percent approval among the state’s Republicans and the support of 50 percent of the overall electorate. Both figures were similar to what they were before the Uvalde shooting.