Poll: Virginians Don’t Like Democrats’ Gerrymander Scam
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A Heritage Action poll of 814 likely Virginia voters finds strong opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment that would let the General Assembly temporarily redraw congressional districts to tilt the maps in Democrats’ favor. The ballot question, set for April 21, would permit a temporary override of the bipartisan redistricting commission while a new district plan is created, with the aim of improving Democrats’ leverage in Congress. The poll shows 43% oppose the amendment,26% support it,and 30% are unsure.
Voters clearly prefer bipartisan processes: about 75% say maps should be drawn by a bipartisan commission including private citizens, while onyl 1% wont politicians to draw them. The survey also finds broad opposition to gerrymandering-76% say it should be opposed, and 61% say maps should not disproportionately favor one party.
A separate Roanoke College poll found 62% of virginians back the bipartisan commission deciding the state’s congressional maps. The ballot language appears to affect support: when asked about the amendment based on the phrasing alone, 45% would support it vs. 36% who would oppose; and when framed as maps representing voters rather than politicians, 87% favored the voter-centered view.
With less than a month before election day in Virginia, a new poll finds voters aren’t crazy about the Democrats’ plan to change the constitution in order to rig the commonwealth’s political maps.
Heritage Action’s Redistricting Poll of 814 likely Virginia voters gauges support — and opposition — for the April 21 ballot question asking whether the state’s constitution should be altered. Members of the Democrat-controlled Assembly want to “temporarily” push aside the work of a state redistricting commission so that they can rewrite Virginia’s congressional maps. They want an extreme gerrymander that aims to take out four Republican House seats and give Democrats a 10-1 advantage in the state’s congressional delegation.
A plurality of Virginia voters oppose the proposed constitutional amendment to upend a 2020 amendment creating the bipartisan commission. That commission drew up the current congressional maps. According to the poll, 43 percent of respondents are opposed, while 26 percent say they support the ballot question. Another 30 percent said they were unsure.
Asked “Who should draw Virginia’s electoral maps: partisan elected leaders, or bipartisan commissions that include private citizens?” just 1 percent of respondents said politicians. Nearly three-quarters back the commission, and 25 percent aren’t sure.
Virginia voters hate gerrymandering, the twisting manipulation of political maps to benefit one party over the other. Seventy-six percent said “no” to the practice. By the same token, 61 percent said electoral maps should not “disproportionately favor one political party over another.”
A poll last month by the Institute for Policy and Opinion Research at Roanoke College showed 62 percent of Virginians back the bipartisan commission deciding the state’s congressional maps.
The ballot question asks, “Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia’s standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?”
Whose idea of fair?
Heritage Action’s poll found the Democrats’ “fairness” phrasing boosts voters’ backing of the referendum.
“Based on this ballot language alone, would you support or oppose this amendment?” Forty-five percent of respondents said they would, while 36 recent said they would not.
Heritage Action approached the topic a different way, asking whether electoral maps should represent the interests of politicians, or voters. Perhaps not surprisingly, 87 percent of respondent chose the latter.
Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.
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