Keyword: Abortion

New UT/Texas Politics Project Poll: As primary voting begins, Texans see a crisis on the border

| By: Jim Henson and Joshua Blank

This post focuses on results from an extensive battery of immigration and border security results, then presents an overview of highlights from the February 2024 University of Texas / Texas Politics Project Poll. A majority of Texas voters support making it harder for migrants fleeing violence in their home countries to seek asylum in the U.S., while majorities also support many of the controversial measures undertaken by Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas Legislature in response to the situation at the southern border that have received significant national attention this winter, according to the February 2024 University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll. The 59% of Texas voters who favor making it harder for migrants fleeing violence in their home countries to seek asylum in the U.S. includes nearly three quarters of Republicans (71%) and nearly half of Democratic voters (48%). 

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Issues, endorsements, and ideology: The public opinion context for the Texas primaries

| By: Jim Henson and Joshua Blank

The 2024 primary elections in Texas are among the most contested and the most heated of any legislative primaries since the establishment of the near-monopoly of state government after the Republican sweep of the 2002 elections. Governor Greg Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick have all waded into GOP primary contests with endorsements, campaign resources, and very hot rhetoric in multiple House races, opposing an unprecedented number of Republican incumbents.

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Texas views on abortion, the economy, and guns from the February 2024 UT/Texas Politics Project Poll

| By: Jim Henson and Joshua Blank

Policy questions included in the February 2024 University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll focused mostly on subjects that previous polls and observation of the campaigns have suggested are issues most likely to be salient in the 2024 election campaigns.

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Keywords: Abortion, Economy, Guns

New UT/Texas Politics Project Poll: Most Texans look to Republican leaders to resolve differences, deliver on major priorities

| By: Jim Henson and Joshua Blank

The latest University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll finds large majorities of Texans saying that it’s important for the legislature to improve the reliability of the state’s energy grid and water supply while reducing property taxes – even as disagreements among the state’s Republican leadership about how to accomplish some of these goals, particularly property tax reduction, but also grid reliability, continue to boil over in public.

The poll reveals much less agreement and more partisan division in opinions about what the legislature needs to accomplish, and in response to specific policy proposals, especially on social and cultural issues that continue to roil politics across the nation, including abortion, transgender rights, and education.

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Second Reading Podcast: Coalitional Politics as the 88th Legislature Heats Up

| By: Texas Politics Project

In the latest Second Reading Podcast, Jim Henson and Josh Blank discuss how the attitudes of different elements of the majority Republcan coalition are likely to impact the movement of legislation, or lack thereof,  in hot-button areas as the legislature heats up.

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Second Reading Podcast: Public opinion and the politics of business in Texas

| By: Texas Politics Project

In the latest Second Reading podcast, Jim Henson and Josh Blank look at issues at the intersection of business and state government likely to get attention in the Texas Legislature in 2023.

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Second Reading Podcast: A look at results of the October 2022 University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll

Public Opinion Context for the One and Only Texas Gubernatorial Debate

| By: Jim Henson and Joshua Blank

The gubernatorial debate between incumbent Republican Governor Greg Abbott and Democratic challenger Beto ORourke in McAllen, Texas is likely to be the only time the two candidates will share a stage in the 2022 campaign. The University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll has been exploring Texas attitudes related to the candidates and the broader context of the election over the last year, and got into extensive detail in our most recent poll, which was conducted from August 26-September 6. To provide context for tonight’s debate, we’ve gathered several results that illustrate how Texans view each of the candidates, their comparative levels of trust on the major issues emerging in the campaign, and more. This post is built for browsing 

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Second Reading Podcast: A conversation with state reporters about the 2022 elections in Georgia, Nevada, Ohio & Pennsylvania

| By: Jim Henson

In a special Second Reading Podcast, listen to a panel recorded at the 2022 Texas Tribune Festival last weekend with reporters covering the 2022 elections in four of the most competitive states in the country – Georgia, Nevada, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Jim Henson talked with Jon Ralston of The Nevada Independent, Greg Bluestein of The Atlanta Journal-Constituiton, Andy Chow, Statehouse correspondent for Ohio's NPR and PBS stations, and Angela Couloumbis of Spotlight PA about the dynamics in these four key states in a panel recorded Saturday September 24 at this year's Tribfest in Austin.

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Second Reading Podcast: The 2022 election in Texas through the lens of issue attitudes in the latest UT/Texas Politics Project Poll

| By: Texas Politics Project

In a new Second Reading Podcast,  Jim Henson and Josh Blank discuss results from the recent University of Texas/Texas Politics Poll on issues in the Texas gubernatorial election in November, including abortion, border security, the economy, gun safety and the Robb Elementary shooting, and more. 

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