Blogs: May 2015

Headlines and rhetoric out of the Texas Legislature this year suggest that the public is clamoring for tax relief. But the polling says otherwise.

Public opinion trends in Texas leading up to the defeat of HB 4105 make it seem likely that last night was probably the Texas Legislature's last substantial effort to ban same sex marriage rights with any hope of succeeding.

For those assessing a Rick Perry presidential candidacy in the wake of his announcement of his announcement plans, here are some highlights of attitudes in Texas toward Perry and the 2016 GOP presidential nomination context.

In a piece in The New York Times' Upshot blog, Lynn Vavreck, a political scientist at U.C.L.A., notes a surprising degree of 'harmony' amongst the public when it comes to abortion attitudes. Attitudes in Texas largely reflect the attitudes Vavreck finds in the national data, though Texas attitudes evidence a higher degree of polarization between Democrats and Republicans on the issue.