TO: INTERESTED PARTIES

FROM: CHRIS WILSON, TREVOR SMITH, PH.D.

SUBJECT: TEXANS OVERWHELMINGLY AGAINST CANDIDATES THAT SAID THEY WERE IN FAVOR OF USING
EMINENT DOMAIN

DATE: JANUARY 8, 2018

A recent poll conducted by WPA Intelligence finds that likely voters in Texas are overwhelmingly opposed to
the application of eminent domain, and more importantly, opposed to candidates and officeholders who said
they were in favor of using eminent domain to take a homeowner’s property for the benefit of a private
company. The study was conducted from December 12-14, 2017, among n=600 likely voters across the
state of Texas.

Support of using eminent domain to take a home-owners property to build privately funded
projects like toll roads and high-speed rail.

» Over half of likely voters (55%) oppose the use of eminent domain to build privately funded projects.

Overall, would you say you support or oppose the violation of private property rights, known as
eminent domain, to build privately funded projects like toll roads and high-speed rail?

Support %
Total Support 30%
Total Oppose 55%
Undecided 15%
© 2018 WPA Intelligence
Do not copy or distribute without permission

Support of Candidates or Officeholders who said they supported using eminent domain.

» Nearly seven-in-ten likely voters (69%) oppose candidates or officeholders that said they were in favor
of using eminent domain.

Would you say that you would support or oppose a candidate or officeholder that said they
were in favor of using eminent domain to take a homeowner's property for the benefit of a
private train company?

Support %
Support 17%
Oppose 69%
Undecided 14%

Party Breakdown of Opposition

Party Support Oppose
Republican 16% 68%
Democrat 15% 73%
Independent 18% 72%

Conclusion

The results of this study show that should political candidates in the upcoming cycle and current officeholders
in the Texas State Legislature choose to support exercising eminent domain, they do so at their own political
risk. Nearly seven-in-ten likely voters (69%) would oppose candidates or officeholders who said they were in
favor of the use of eminent domain to benefit a private train company. This strong opposition transcended
party lines, with Republicans (68%), Independents (72%), Democrats (73%) producing almost uniform
responses. Voters in Texas have made it clear they do not support eminent domain being exercised by Texas
Central Partners to facilitate their high-speed rail project and will not support politicians who say they will
support it either.

Research Design

WPA Intelligence conducted a study of likely voters in Texas.

WPAi selected a random sample of likely voters from the Texas voter file using Proportionate Probability
Sampling (PPS). The sample for this survey was stratified based on geography, age, gender, and ethnicity.
This methodology allows us to avoid post-survey “weighting” which can reduce the reliability of survey results.

WPAi conducted 600 interviews among likely voters via live telephone December 12-14, 2017 with a margin
of error ±4.0% in 95 out of 100 cases.

Confidential Page 2 of 3 1/8/2018

© 2018 WPA Intelligence
Do not copy or distribute without permission

About WPAi

Since 1998, WPAi has been a leading provider of political polling for campaigns from President to Governor
and U.S. Senate to Mayor and City Council in all 50 states and several foreign countries. In the 2015-2016
election cycle, 87% of WPAi clients won. WPAi clients' win ratio has exceeded the standard by double digits
for four straight political cycles.

WPAi has been nationally recognized for providing cutting edge research to help our clients win. The American
Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) awarded a “Pollie” to WPAi for our Predictive Analytics and
Adaptive Sampling techniques. The award highlighted these advanced methodologies which allowed us to
buck national polling trends and deliver industry-leading results.

In addition to our political and policy research, WPAi has conducted market research for more than 120
United States Fortune 500 corporations, donor research for more than 250 of the largest and most successful
not-for-profit organizations around the country, and alumni research for dozens of colleges and universities.

Confidential Page 3 of 3 1/8/2018