Who should draw congressional districts? What poll finds amid redistricting push

Most Americans believe congressional districts should be drawn by nonpartisan commissions, not politicians, according to a new Economist/YouGov poll.

In the survey, 52% of respondents said they think an independent commission should be in charge of redistricting in their state.

Just 17% said they favored granting this power to the state legislature, and 31% said they weren’t sure.

Most Democrats and independents — 59% and 54%, respectively — said they supported an independent commission, while a plurality of Republicans, 43%, said the same.

The survey — conducted Aug. 9-11 with 1,635 U.S. adults — comes as a number of states are pushing to redraw their electoral maps ahead of the 2026 midterms.

The unusual mid-decade redistricting effort began when the Texas legislature proposed a new map, which is projected to give the GOP five additional U.S. House seats. In protest, Democratic lawmakers left the state, breaking quorum to delay the vote.

Since then, many other states have announced their own redistricting plans, with blue states like California and New York seeking to prevent Republicans from gaining an electoral advantage.

But the process is complex, and it varies state by state. In most, lawmakers hold the power to redistrict, but in 15 states, independent commissions are tasked with drawing the electoral maps instead of politicians.

The poll — which has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points — also asked respondents if they believed congressional districts were drawn fairly in their state.

Only about one-third, 34%, said the maps were drawn unfairly, while 24% believed they were fair. The largest share, 42%, said they were unsure.

Views on the issue were fairly consistent across party lines: 36% of Democrats, 35% of independents and 32% of Republicans said their state’s districts were unfairly drawn.

When the focus shifted to districts nationwide, respondents grew more skeptical.

Nearly half, 46%, said congressional districts are unfairly drawn “in most parts of the country.” Just 16% saw the process as fair, while 37% were unsure.

On this broader question, a noticeable partisan divide emerged: 55% of Democrats believed most districts are unfairly drawn, compared to 39% of Republicans.

This story was originally published August 14, 2025 at 12:14 PM with the headline "Who should draw congressional districts? What poll finds amid redistricting push."