Jim Henson and Joshua Blank look at Texans' views of vouchers as the legislature remains at an impasse on the issue, and discuss what the latest UT/Texas Politics Project Poll reveals about views of Ken Paxton as his securities fraud trial begins in Houston. After the podcast was recorded Tuesday morning, Gov. Greg Abbott issued a proclamation adding public education items beyond vouchers to the call for the current special session of the legislature, along with a press release detailing components of a legislative proposal including appropriations for educational savings accounts and increased public school funding.
The discussion references some of the following data.
On vouchers/ESA's and public education.
| category | Total |
|---|---|
| Extremely important | 25% |
| Very important | 25% |
| Somewhat important | 19% |
| Not very important | 10% |
| Not important | 15% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 6% |
| Category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extremely important | 17% | 26% | 32% |
| Very important | 19% | 21% | 28% |
| Somewhat important | 17% | 21% | 21% |
| Not very important | 10% | 17% | 8% |
| Not important | 29% | 14% | 5% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 7% | 2% | 6% |
| Category | Lean conservative | Somewhat conservative | Extremely conservative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extremely important | 21% | 32% | 41% |
| Very important | 32% | 31% | 27% |
| Somewhat important | 21% | 15% | 21% |
| Not very important | 12% | 12% | 3% |
| Not important | 9% | 3% | 5% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 6% | 7% | 3% |
On Ken Paxton impeachment fallout.
| Category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes, justified | 73% | 46% | 26% |
| No, not justified | 6% | 22% | 43% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 20% | 31% | 31% |
| Category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | 70% | 46% | 27% |
| No | 7% | 23% | 44% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 23% | 31% | 29% |
| Category | Lean conservative | Somewhat conservative | Extremely conservative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Approve strongly | 10% | 27% | 36% |
| Approve somewhat | 23% | 29% | 29% |
| Neither approve nor disapprove | 29% | 17% | 13% |
| Disapprove somewhat | 8% | 7% | 6% |
| Disapprove strongly | 20% | 12% | 10% |
| Don't know | 10% | 8% | 6% |
| Q8D | Approve | Disapprove | Don't know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr. 2021 | 59% | 11% | 30% |
| June 2021 | 58% | 10% | 32% |
| Aug. 2021 | 61% | 11% | 28% |
| Oct. 2021 | 65% | 12% | 23% |
| Feb. 2022 | 55% | 13% | 31% |
| Apr. 2022 | 62% | 8% | 30% |
| June 2022 | 60% | 15% | 25% |
| Aug. 2022 | 66% | 13% | 22% |
| Oct. 2022 | 65% | 12% | 24% |
| Dec. 2022 | 73% | 7% | 19% |
| Feb. 2023 | 65% | 9% | 27% |
| Apr. 2023 | 65% | 13% | 23% |
| June 2023 | 51% | 19% | 30% |
| Aug. 2023 | 46% | 23% | 31% |
| Oct. 2023 | 50% | 20% | 30% |
| Dec. 2023 | 58% | 15% | 28% |
| Feb. 2024 | 61% | 16% | 23% |
| Apr. 2024 | 61% | 14% | 25% |
| June 2024 | 58% | 14% | 27% |
| Q8D | Approve | Disapprove | Don't know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr. 2021 | 23% | 26% | 52% |
| June 2021 | 24% | 33% | 43% |
| Aug. 2021 | 32% | 37% | 31% |
| Oct. 2021 | 26% | 36% | 38% |
| Feb. 2022 | 22% | 38% | 41% |
| Apr. 2022 | 21% | 36% | 44% |
| June 2022 | 23% | 37% | 40% |
| Aug. 2022 | 31% | 36% | 34% |
| Oct. 2022 | 31% | 35% | 33% |
| Dec. 2022 | 34% | 43% | 23% |
| Feb. 2023 | 25% | 31% | 43% |
| Apr. 2023 | 19% | 44% | 38% |
| June 2023 | 21% | 40% | 38% |
| Aug. 2023 | 21% | 51% | 27% |
| Oct. 2023 | 20% | 53% | 26% |
| Dec. 2023 | 28% | 45% | 27% |
| Feb. 2024 | 26% | 43% | 31% |
| Apr. 2024 | 28% | 35% | 37% |
| June 2024 | 23% | 47% | 31% |
| Q8D | Approve | Disapprove | Don't know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr. 2021 | 60% | 12% | 27% |
| June 2021 | 59% | 12% | 29% |
| Aug. 2021 | 62% | 12% | 27% |
| Oct. 2021 | 66% | 10% | 23% |
| Feb. 2022 | 56% | 15% | 29% |
| Apr. 2022 | 62% | 10% | 27% |
| June 2022 | 59% | 16% | 25% |
| Aug. 2022 | 65% | 14% | 21% |
| Oct. 2022 | 64% | 12% | 24% |
| Dec. 2022 | 70% | 11% | 18% |
| Feb. 2023 | 63% | 10% | 26% |
| Apr. 2023 | 63% | 13% | 24% |
| June 2023 | 50% | 23% | 27% |
| Aug. 2023 | 46% | 22% | 32% |
| Oct. 2023 | 54% | 20% | 26% |
| Dec. 2023 | 61% | 16% | 24% |
| Feb. 2024 | 63% | 16% | 22% |
| Apr. 2024 | 62% | 13% | 25% |
| June 2024 | 61% | 15% | 23% |
About the Second Reading podcast. The podcast has been produced intermittently by Jim Henson for the Texas Politics Project, with production support from UT's Liberal Arts Development Studio, since 2016. You can find past episodes and subscribe to the Second Reading podcast in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.