Texas Voters Oppose State’s Attempt to Ban Hemp THC

[PRESS RELEASE] – AUSTIN, Texas, June 11, 2025 – Texas Republicans are more likely to oppose than support Senate Bill 3, the bill that aims to ban hemp-based products, which is now awaiting a decision from Gov. Greg Abbott.

A new poll shows that 47% of Texas Republican primary voters oppose banning hemp, while 37% support a ban, and 16% said they don’t know. It also shows that 45% oppose banning THC, while 35% support a THC ban, and 21% don’t know. Opposition to a ban is even stronger among those with an active-duty or former military member in their household.

Despite political claims to the contrary, Texas Republicans and Democrats do not support banning hemp-derived THC. They want it regulated, restricted to adults and away from minors. But they do not want prohibition. Two independent, statistically valid polls have now shown that bans like S.B. 3 are deeply unpopular, especially among the very voters who will determine the future of Republican leadership in Texas.

Last week, the Texas Hemp Business Council (THBC) delivered 5,000 handwritten letters and a petition with more than 118,000 signatures to Abbott, urging him to veto S.B. 3 and save the 53,000 Texas jobs connected to hemp.

“Texans do not want SB 3,” THBC Executive Director Mark Bordas said. “Texans recognize S.B. 3 for what it is: an attack on the rights and liberties of Texans that will destroy tens of thousands of jobs. We respectfully ask the governor to listen to veterans, small business owners, Republican primary voters and others who want him to veto this heavy-handed bill. We went out of our way to conduct the most credible poll possible, in which the segment of the voting population least likely to support our cause was queried. Even among Republican primary voters, S.B. 3 and its ban are highly unpopular. This is not a Republican or a Democrat issue—it’s about preserving economic and individual freedoms, which all Texans cherish.”

S.B. 3 would force Texans who use hemp-based products to seek those products through illicit, unsafe black markets. It will also create havoc and uncertainty for farmers, small business owners and others who have devoted years of their careers to safe hemp-based products.
The poll was commissioned by THBC and conducted by respected Texas Republican pollster Chris Perkins of Ragnar Research Partners. It also found:

• More than two-thirds of Republican primary voters (72%) believe military veterans should be able to access THC products as an alternative to opioids.
• 53% of Republican primary voters believe a ban will create opportunities for drug cartels.
• 55% of Republican primary voters believe a ban will increase black market sales.

The poll of Texas Republicans reinforces the message of a broader statewide poll conducted by Baselice & Associates in March: 68% of Texas likely voters support legal THC hemp products with strict regulations, while just 20% support a ban. Republican voters prefer regulated legality (57%) over prohibition (29%), and support climbs even higher among independents (72%) and younger voters (76%), the Baselice poll found. Seniors, too, reject prohibition by double-digit margins.

“These highly credible polls clearly show where voters stand, while some groups are pushing false and misleading narratives to support S.B. 3, hoping that more Texans would turn to alcohol if hemp-based products were banned,” Bordas said. “Every month in Texas, nearly 90 lives are lost to alcohol-related crashes, over 1,000 each year. Nationwide, alcohol ranks among the leading preventable causes of death. Hemp products, which are already regulated at the state and federal levels, offer [a] popular alternative that many Texans rely on. Our industry also continues to support additional safeguards, including banning sales to anyone under 21 and setbacks from schools. Texans deserve legal choices, not fear-driven policies that push them toward more dangerous substances.”

The Ragnar Research Partners poll of 800 likely Republican primary voters was conducted June 2-4 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.