diff --git a/django/test/testcases.py b/django/test/testcases.py
index 3c681db3295..d37be58a71c 100644
--- a/django/test/testcases.py
+++ b/django/test/testcases.py
@@ -647,6 +647,7 @@ class TransactionTestCase(SimpleTestCase):
         self.assertEqual(response.status_code, status_code,
             msg_prefix + "Couldn't retrieve content: Response code was %d"
             " (expected %d)" % (response.status_code, status_code))
+        text = force_text(text, encoding=response._charset)
         content = response.content.decode(response._charset)
         if html:
             content = assert_and_parse_html(self, content, None,
@@ -682,6 +683,7 @@ class TransactionTestCase(SimpleTestCase):
         self.assertEqual(response.status_code, status_code,
             msg_prefix + "Couldn't retrieve content: Response code was %d"
             " (expected %d)" % (response.status_code, status_code))
+        text = force_text(text, encoding=response._charset)
         content = response.content.decode(response._charset)
         if html:
             content = assert_and_parse_html(self, content, None,
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/test_client_regress/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/test_client_regress/tests.py
index d80293b3580..9deb8a4755b 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/test_client_regress/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/test_client_regress/tests.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ from django.test import Client, TestCase
 from django.test.client import encode_file, RequestFactory
 from django.test.utils import ContextList, override_settings, str_prefix
 from django.template.response import SimpleTemplateResponse
+from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy
 from django.http import HttpResponse
 
 
@@ -129,6 +130,14 @@ class AssertContainsTests(TestCase):
         self.assertNotContains(r, 'はたけ')
         self.assertNotContains(r, b'\xe3\x81\xaf\xe3\x81\x9f\xe3\x81\x91'.decode('utf-8'))
 
+    def test_nontext_contains(self):
+        r = self.client.get('/test_client_regress/no_template_view/')
+        self.assertContains(r, ugettext_lazy('once'))
+
+    def test_nontext_not_contains(self):
+        r = self.client.get('/test_client_regress/no_template_view/')
+        self.assertNotContains(r, ugettext_lazy('never'))
+
     def test_assert_contains_renders_template_response(self):
         """ Test that we can pass in an unrendered SimpleTemplateReponse
             without throwing an error.