“This is an issue that there’s not a consensus on among all Texas, Texans are divided on this,” said Jim Henson, the leader of the Texas Politics Project and UT-Austin and co-director of the poll.
Pollsters asked a similar question in February and over the course of four months, support increased by 13% among Republican voters and jumped up 31% among Tea Party supporters.
While the GOP saw a boost in support, the opinions of Texas Democrats remained relatively unchanged. “On the other hand, it’s hard to tell whether the politics inside the legislature have shifted that much,” Henson said.
Henson said, “I think that’s a tall order to expect from the business community, frankly because the Lt. Governor has put so much into this that it’s likely that the business groups are going to be afraid to cross the Lt. Gov.”
Overall, 44% percent of Texans that were polled consider a so-called bathroom bill to be important, 47% say it’s not. “If you’re a lawmaker this isn’t telling you that the issue matters to Texas,” Henson said. He added the numbers do show bathrooms have become a significant issue for Tea Party supporters and conservative Republicans in Texas.
The 30-day special session starts July 18th.
