More than two-thirds of Texas Republicans approve of Cornyn despite heat over gun bill: poll

More than two-thirds of Texas Republican voters approve of Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-Texas) job performance, according to a poll released on Thursday, despite heat he has received from former President Trump and others over his involvement in crafting bipartisan gun safety legislation.

The new Morning Consult survey, conducted June 11-20, found that 68 percent of registered Republican voters in the state approved of Cornyn’s job performance, the same percentage he received when respondents were last polled between May 14 and May 23. 

A slightly higher percentage of Texas Republican voters have said they disapprove of the job Cornyn is doing, however — 17 percent give the senator a thumbs down in the latest poll, compared to 11 percent in May.

The development comes after Cornyn, who has represented Texas in the Senate since 2002, was booed at the state’s GOP convention last week, including when he discussed what could be included in the gun safety bill, which advanced in the Senate on Thursday in a 65-34 vote.

But the poll shows that while Cornyn’s role as lead Republican negotiator of the bipartisan gun bill, which was unveiled this week, may have upset some Republicans in the state, he retains his standing with the majority.

Trump weighed in on the bipartisan gun safety bill on Wednesday, calling Cornyn a “RINO” or “Republican in name only” and alleging that it “will go down in history as the first step in the movement to TAKE YOUR GUNS AWAY.”

Cornyn, whom the former president endorsed in his last Senate reelection bid, is also likely to be helped by the fact that he is not up for reelection until 2026.

The Morning Consult survey was conducted with 2,420 Texas registered voters, including members of both parties. The unweighted margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.