• A Utah judge replaced the Legislature’s congressional map with one submitted by advocacy groups, following a 2024 Utah Supreme Court ruling.
• A new Y2 Analytics survey commissioned by Sutherland Institute shows voters’ strong views on who should draw congressional districts: 56% of Utah voters say elected bodies, not judges, should decide district boundaries, while only 8% say judges should.
• Survey results suggest a clear path forward: repeal Prop. 4, then create a redistricting commission through legislation.

Recent court decisions on redistricting are generating public controversy. Driven by a 2024 Utah Supreme Court ruling, a Utah judge tossed out the Utah Legislature’s congressional map, replacing it with a map she chose from several provided by advocacy groups opposed to the Legislature’s map. Experienced political strategists conclude that the Legislature’s map produced four districts with a modest Republican advantage, whereas the judge’s map produced a heavy partisan advantage in all four districts (three strongly Republican districts and one strongly Democratic district).

Do voters agree or disagree with the court-driven process produced by proponents of Proposition 4? Sutherland Institute recently commissioned Y2 Analytics to conduct a survey of Utah voters to investigate this question.

Who should decide the boundaries for congressional districts?

A full 60% of Utah voters believe that the Legislature should have some role in drawing district maps, while 40% of voters believe they should have no role. Among the group of Utah voters who think the Legislature should have a role in redistricting, 45% of them believe that legislators should pick from maps approved by a commission, 40% believe legislators should set district boundaries with an advisory commission to assist, and 15% believe that the Legislature should have sole decision-making authority.

What do voters want from redistricting?

Utah voters seem to clearly oppose the idea of judges deciding on congressional maps, preferring that the elected officials they choose make redistricting decisions. On the other hand, voters also seem to reject the idea that the Utah Legislature should have the sole authority over redistricting – preferring instead that a commission assist the Legislature in one form or another in making that policy decision.

In short, Utah voters seem to favor a commission similar to the one created by Prop. 4, but without the judicial intervention created by Prop. 4. However, this policy outcome is arguably precluded by the Utah Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling in League of Women Voters v. Utah State Legislature, since the ability to sue to enforce Prop. 4 would likely be determined to be a critical element of the Prop. 4 ballot initiative.

Conclusion: A Path Forward

The survey results seem to point to the following process as the most viable path toward producing what voters say they want to see in redistricting: (1) repeal Prop. 4 and then, (2) enact via legislative means a redistricting commission of some kind to assist the Legislature in redistricting.

The first step in this process is being undertaken by a proposed ballot initiative to repeal Proposition 4. The second step has, as of yet, not been contemplated publicly. As both lawmakers and judges continue to debate what the people intended when they enacted Prop. 4, they should keep in mind what voters themselves report in survey research.