Approval ratings dropped sharply for Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, after he helped lead Congress to pass bipartisan gun legislation after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, according to a new poll by the University of Texas/Texas Politics Project.
The poll, taken in June and released this week, shows that 24% of voters said they approve of Cornyn's job performance, dropping from his 32% approval rating two months ago, reports the San Antonio Express-News.
The approval number was 11 percentage points worse than those for President Joe Biden. Meanwhile, 50% said they disapprove of Cornyn's job performance, for the highest disapproval rating among all of Texas' elected Republicans, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz.
Cornyn's disapproval rating in the poll two months ago was at 39%.
Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project said he doesn't "ever recall ever seeing a drop as severe in such a short amount of time as we saw Cornyn drop between April and June."
The poll, taken of 1,200 registered Texas voters, was conducted June 16-24, with the last day of the poll coinciding with when the Senate passed the compromise bill. Henson said it's hard not to believe the poll was a response to Cornyn leading the legislation.
The GOP base in Texas has criticized Cornyn's role in the legislation, which allows more extensive background checks on gun buyers ages of 18-21 and helps states expand their red flag laws, but doesn't create red flag laws or keep legal gun buyers from purchasing firearms in Texas.
Cornyn was booed throughout his speech in June at the Texas Republican Convention in Houston, where a resolution was approved to rebuke him for his work on the law. Further, President Donald Trump slammed Cornyn as a "RINO" (Republican in name only).
Cornyn has defended his work on the bill, calling it "fundamentally important" to show that the Senate could work together.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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