Respondents were asked, "Below are some proposals that have been made for this session as the Texas legislature considers the budget for 2013-2014. Which of the following do you think should be the legislature's top priority?" And then given the randomized response options, "Restore cuts made in the last session to education and human services", "Continue to limit government by approving no new spending and no new taxes", "Lower property and business taxes", "Provide public funds for future infrastructure needs like water and transportation", and "Don't know/no opinion".
The ideology measure is based on respondent self-placement in response to the following question: "On a scale from 1 to 7, where 1 is extremely liberal, 7 is extremely conservative, and 4 is exactly in the middle, where would you place yourself?" The placements are further classified such that 1 is extremely liberal, 2 is very liberal, 3 is somewhat liberal, 4 is moderate, 5 is somewhat conservative, 6 is very conservative, and 7 is extremely conservative.