TEXAS: 44% Back Anti-Transgender “Bathroom Bill

The Texas Tribune reports:

The “bathroom bill” that preoccupied the Texas Legislature for the first half of the year is important to only 44 percent of the state’s voters — and “very important” to only 26 percent, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

During the regular session, lawmakers considered but did not pass legislation that would regulate transgender Texans’ use of public restrooms, blocking them from using facilities not designated for their “biological sex.” The debate over that issue is going into overtime; Gov. Greg Abbott added it to the list of issues he wants legislators to consider in a 30-day special session starting next month.

Some voters like the legislation more than others. Overall, 44 percent consider it important and 47 percent do not. Among all Republicans — including those who identify with the Tea Party and those who don’t — 57 percent said such a bill is important, and among Tea Party Republicans, 70 percent said so. Democrats are on the other side of this one, with 53 percent saying the legislation is either “not very important” or “not important at all.”