By: Maria-Paula
A new poll from the Wason Center for Civic Leadership at Christopher Newport University reports that Virginians across the Commonwealth are strongly backing reforms that could reshape the state’s social and economic policy landscape in the coming years.
The survey, conducted recently, reveals that many residents support constitutional amendments and legislative changes on issues ranging from personal freedoms and criminal justice to workers’ rights and environmental stewardship.
On reproductive rights and civil rights restoration leader board, 66% of Virginians say they support amending the state constitution to guarantee reproductive rights, including access to contraception and abortion care. Support cuts across demographic lines, with particularly high backing among Democrats and women, though it remains robust with independents and even a notable share of Republican respondents.
On criminal justice reform, 64% of the population supports a constitutional amendment that would automatically restore voting rights to individuals who have completed their prison sentences. This would mark a potential transformative shift from the current system in which former felons must petition the governor for voting rights. Civil rights advocates argue this change would correct a longstanding disenfranchisement burden that disproportionately affects mostly Black Virginians.
The poll also found that about 60% of Virginia residents support legal retail sales of recreational marijuana. The poll points to a shift in public opinion from past years, when Virginia only legalized possession and limited home growing. This change could open the door to taxed and regulated dispensaries across the state.
Support tends to run strongest among younger voters and Democrats, though a significant minority of Republicans also voiced approval, suggesting bipartisan interest in the economic and criminal justice implications of legalization.
A majority, 69% of poll respondents, also supported regulatory measures that would prohibit data centers within one mile of a national park, state park, or historically significant site. Virginia’s explosive growth in data center construction, especially in Northern Virginia, has generated mixed reactions due to concerns about energy usage, water consumption, noise, and impacts on agricultural and historic sites. 63% of residents’ opinion is that limiting data centres would potentially protect communities by making new data centers run on renewable energy.
These results illustrate growing public interest in balancing economic development with environmental and community concerns.
Workers’ rights and economic policy gave the most overwhelming results from the poll as Virginians widely support initiatives designed to improve workers’ wages and benefits.
As 78% support increasing the state minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2028, 80 % favor requiring employers to provide paid sick leave while 84% back establishing a state-wide paid family and medical leave program offering up to 12 weeks of benefits.
These figures underscore a broad public appetite for strengthening economic security for working families, even as debates continue in the General Assembly and among business groups about the costs and implementation timelines for such policies.
The poll results come at a time of intense political activity in Richmond. Governor Abigail Spanberger and the Democratic-led legislature have indicated their intention to advance a progressive agenda, leveraging their legislative majorities to pursue issues that have long mobilized voters, from reproductive autonomy to labor protections.
Several constitutional amendments under discussion, including reproductive rights and felon voting rights restoration, require passage by two successive sessions of the General Assembly and later approval by voters at the polls. These suggestions will, therefore, most likely remain high priorities through the 2026 election cycle.
For Virginians, the poll seems to reflect both pragmatic concerns, such as cost of living and workplace fairness, and broader cultural priorities, suggesting a complex yet highly engaged electorate focused on shaping the Commonwealth’s future.
These measures are part of a wider slate of 2026 ballot initiatives, including other controversial questions like mid-decade redistricting powers.
