Texas voters of every party overwhelmingly want safeguards on artificial intelligence, according to a new survey of likely Texas voters from The Tyson Group, a national research firm. The firm's memo says the survey "finds broad support for AI safeguards across party lines."
The poll, released Oct. 26, tested 11 AI safeguards. "Every one of the 11 safeguards tested drew 82% to 93% support, and Republicans back them at the same rate as voters overall," the memo says. On candidates, it says "80% of voters are more likely to support a congressional candidate who backs common-sense AI guardrails, including 77% of Republicans." Another 68% are "less likely to back a candidate who opposes [guardrails], even when the candidate argues regulation would stifle innovation."
Few voters associate the GOP with that position. "Only 32% of voters say Republican officials support AI guardrails," the memo says. Another 21% say "Republicans don't talk about the issue enough," and 32% weren't sure. Among independents, 19% said Republicans support guardrails, compared with 39% who said so of Democrats. Even among Republican voters, the memo says, "Only half of Republican voters (51%) say their own party supports them."
That gap shows up in trust. Voters trust Republicans over Democrats to handle AI regulation "by just 42% to 39%, well short of the party's 11-point lead in party identification in this sample," according to the memo. Independents trusted Democrats more, 41% to 27%.
"There is still time for Republicans to get this right," the memo says. "Voters strongly support safeguards and have not decided which party owns the issue. But the numbers are a warning: if Republicans do not take a firmer stand on AI safeguards before the next election, they risk handing Democrats an issue with 80% support."
Texas already has an AI law on the books. The Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act was authored by Republican state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione and sponsored in the Senate by Republican Sen. Charles Schwertner. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed it in June 2025, and it took effect Jan. 1. It requires disclosures from government agencies and health care providers that use AI. It also bars AI systems built to incite self-harm or crime, to unlawfully discriminate against a protected class, or to infringe constitutional rights. The law doesn't impose the kind of broad safeguards the poll tested. The memo doesn't say whether respondents knew it existed.ai
The survey was conducted in October 2026 by cell phone (338 respondents), text message (141) and landline (21). Results were weighted by party, race, gender, age and media market. The margin of error is ±4.4 points at 95% confidence, and subgroups carry wider margins.
