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Second Reading Podcast: A Conversation with Ross Ramsey about Donald Trump and the Texas GOP
In a new Second Reading podcast, Jim Henson talks with Ross Ramsey, co-founder and former executive editor of The Texas Tribune, about the reverberations in Texas f Donald Trump's presumed return as the Republican presidential nominee in 2024.
Second Reading Podcast: Texas border politics go national
In a new Second Reading podcast, Jim Henson and Josh Blank discuss the convergence of national and Texas politics in the current national focus on immigration and border security.
Second Reading Podcast: A busy Interlude in Texas Politics - from a SCOTUS Ruling on the Border to Paxton's about-face
In a new Second Reading podcast, Jim Henson and Josh Blank round up the flood of developments in politics in Texas, including the latest in the GOP presidential primary, the SCOTUS ruling against Texas, the DOJ's report on Uvalde, and more.
Second Reading Podcast: Donald Trump's support among Texas Republicans
In a new Second Reading podcast, Jim Henson and Joshua Blank look at Donald Trump's standing in Texas after his win in Iowa – and the long term roots of support for him among Texas Republicans.
Trending into 2024: How the past year in Texas public opinion sets the stage for the election year in Texas
Texans’ attitudes about politics – whether about issues, ideas, institutions, political leaders, or any other political subject – are only one of several persistent elements that shape how the state’s political system works. Political elites, by definition, make decisions that are far more consequential than any individual vote. Structural elements like the economy, international flows of migrants, or climate change ripple through politics. But in a democratic political system, even one experiencing duress, public opinion interacts with all of these factors, responding to context and to the actions of elites while also acting as part of a feedback loop among all three. Below are nine observations drawn from University of Texas/Texas Politics Project polling data to provide context as the 2024 elections unfold.
Despite the record of the 88th Legislature, GOP legislators have trouble displaying enough of the Right Stuff to fend off widespread challenges to incumbents.
The last two legislative sessions saw Texas Republicans successfully championing new laws that gained national attention for testing the boundaries of Constitutionality and public acceptance. From Texas’ de facto ban on abortion, with its creation of a civil bounty-hunting enforcement mechanism, to the assertion of state authority over border and immigration enforcement, the Republican-led legislature and leading statewide elected officials have invested an enormous amount of political capital in implementing measures expected to appeal strongly to the most conservative corners of the Texas GOP. Yet public opinion polling and the emerging dynamics of the 2024 GOP primary suggest that for Republican legislative incumbents, the threshold for demonstrating that you have the right stuff to avoid being challenged from the right in this year’s heated primary is at best a moving target.
Second Reading Podcast: Public opinion and 2024 primary politics in Texas
In the first Second Reading Podcast of 2024, Jim Henson and Joshua Blank look at how voters' assessments of the extended 2023 session provide part of the context of the 2024 Republican primary in Texas.
Texas Republicans’ views of January 6 align with views of the 2020 election and Donald Trump
Three years after rioters violently overran the U.S. Capitol and disrupted the counting of electoral college votes to ratify Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, the deep divisions and decay in institutional trust that fueled the riot remain starkly apparent in Texas public opinion.
December UT/Texas Politics Project Poll: After long legislative session, Texas voters have not-so-great expectations
After a bruising 2023 legislative session extended by four special sessions, Texas voters continue to convey little confidence in legislative efforts to address key problems in the state such as the reliability of the grid, public school safety, and improved border security, according to a University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll conducted in early December. When asked about their support for key legislative priorities during the session, the issues deemed most important by the largest shares of voters were areas in which the legislature either failed to pass significant legislation or achieved mixed results.
Job approval trends for Texas statewide incumbents and other trend data from the Texas Politics Project poll data archive (December 2023 UT/Texas Politics Project Poll update)
This page compiles graphics for trends in job approval ratings of the current statewide incumbents (Governor, Lt. Governor, U.S. Senators) that Texans rate on every poll. Bookmark the page for easy reference – we’ve also added similar graphics for trends in Texans’ assessment of conditions in Texas and the U.S., and some archival results for comparison with leaders no longer in office.