Majority also prefers current redistricting method
Most Virginians favor stricter gun laws, but many question their effectiveness, according to a new Roanoke College Poll. Residents also support the commonwealth’s existing method of redistricting and drawing legislative lines. The Institute for Policy and Opinion Research (IPOR) at Roanoke College interviewed 800 Virginia residents between Feb. 9 and Feb. 16, 2026.
The survey was conducted as the Virginia General Assembly debated bills on gun control and redistricting. The results have a weighted margin of error of 4.43%.
Gun Control
A majority of Virginians support a wide variety of gun control measures, including requiring gun owners to be licensed (71%) and requiring all guns to be registered with the state (67%). Most also support banning semi-automatic rifles (57%), semi-automatic shotguns (52%), and magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition (53%). An even larger share (59%) favor banning guns often referred to as assault rifles, and half (50%) favor banning semi-automatic handguns. However, only 19% support banning all firearms.
Virginians are nearly evenly split on whether it is more important to protect the rights of Americans to own guns (49%) or to control gun ownership (48%). They also think better enforcement of existing laws (56%) is more likely to reduce gun-related violence than adopting stricter laws (42%). When asked which factor is most responsible for mass shootings, respondents most commonly cited poor mental health policies (52%), followed by weak gun laws (30%) and poor enforcement of gun laws (29%). Almost half (49%) think stricter gun laws would make them safer, but slightly more think it would make no difference (35%) or make them less safe (16%). Virginians are also somewhat skeptical of making it more difficult for citizens to legally carry guns, with 39% saying it would make them safer, 29% saying it would make them less safe, and 32% saying it would make no difference.
Redistricting
A majority of respondents (62%) support the current method of mapping electoral districts. When asked how they would vote in a referendum to amend the state constitution and change that method, most (52%) said they would vote to keep the current process while 44% said they would vote to adopt the change proposed by the General Assembly. The Roanoke College Poll did a prior look at this issue in January 2016. Those results can be found at the conclusion of the topline.
Job Approval, Favorable/Unfavorable, and Directions of Virginia and Nation
Two-thirds of Virginians (65%) think the country has gotten off on the wrong track, while just over half (51%) believe the commonwealth is on the wrong track. The assessment of the nation rebounded from the November poll, but the view of Virginia is more negative than November. President Donald Trump’s job disapproval rating (61%) remains similar to November, while Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s initial approval level (53% approve/39% disapprove) is extremely close to former Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s final numbers (54% approve/38% disapprove).
Spanberger’s favorable rating (51% favorable/39% unfavorable) declined somewhat from what may have been a short-lived “honeymoon” following her November electoral victory. Trump’s 33% favorable rating is slightly lower than is typical of his second term.
The Roanoke College Poll is funded by Roanoke College as a public service.
Analysis
“Virginians clearly support a variety of gun control measures, but many question their efficacy,” said Dr. Harry Wilson, interim director for IPOR and author of three books on gun politics. “A majority supports bans on essentially any and all semi-automatic firearms. But many think current gun laws aren’t the cause of mass shootings, and less than half think that stricter laws will make them safer. There is also strong support for gun registration and owner licensing, regulations that are anathema to many Second Amendment supporters.”
“On the redistricting issue that seems to be headed to a referendum, Virginians generally prefer the current system. Still, given the partisan ramifications and the Democratic-inspired wording of the question ‘to restore fairness’ to elections, this may not be indicative of the outcome.”
Methodology
The Roanoke College Poll was conducted by the Institute for Policy and Opinion Research (IPOR) at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia, between Feb. 9 and Feb. 16, 2026. All data was collected by the Siena Research Institute powered by ReconMR at Siena University in Loudonville, New York. A total of 800 completed interviews came from random telephone calls and texts to 458 Virginians, and 342 responses were drawn from a proprietary online panel of Virginians. Interviews were conducted in English. Cellphones constituted 78% of the completed phone and text to web interviews.
Telephone sampling was conducted via a stratified dual frame probability sample of landline and cellphone telephone numbers weighted to reflect known population patterns in Virginia. The landline telephone sample and cellphone sample were obtained from Marketing Systems Group (MSG). Cint USA, Inc., facilitated the online panel with completion time and attention check questions used for quality control.
Interviews conducted online are excluded from the sample and final analysis if they fail any data quality attention check question. Duplicate responses are identified by their response ID and removed from the sample. Three questions are asked of online respondents, including a honey-pot question to catch bots and two questions asking the respondent to follow explicit directions. The proprietary panel also incorporates measures that “safeguard against bot attacks, deduplication issues, fraudulent VPN usage, and suspicious IP addresses.”
Questions answered by the sample of 800 respondents are subject to a weighted margin of error (including design effect) of plus or minus 4.43% at a confidence level of 95%. This means that in 95 out of 100 samples such as the one used here, the results should be at most 4.43 percentage points above or below the figure obtained by interviewing all Virginians with a home telephone or a cellphone. Where the results of subgroups are reported, the margin of error is higher. Sampling error is only one of many potential sources of error, and there may be other unmeasured error in this or any other public opinion poll.
Quotas were used to ensure that different regions of the commonwealth were proportionately represented. The data were statistically weighted for gender, race, and age. Weighting was done to match Virginia data in the 2024 one-year American Community Survey (ASC). The design effect was 1.633.
A copy of the questions and all toplines may be found here.
IPOR is an independent, nonpartisan research institute and subscribes to the American Association of Public Opinion Research Code of Professional Ethics and Practices. The Roanoke College Poll is paid for by Roanoke College as a public service.
More information about the Roanoke College Poll may be obtained by contacting Dr. Harry Wilson, interim director for the Institute for Policy and Opinion Research, at wilson@roanoke.edu or the Roanoke College Marketing and Communications Office at rcnews@roanoke.edu.