In a new Second Reading Podcast, Jim Henson and Josh Blank discuss the politics of Greg Abbott’s latest testing of the boundaries of support for his border policies, and look at the impact in Texas, or lack thereof, of the latest Trump indictments. See below the player for links to UT/Texas Politics Project Poll data discussed in the podcast.
Snapshots of Texans' reviews of state border security policy.
| Category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Approve strongly | 7% | 8% | 23% |
| Approve somewhat | 11% | 23% | 39% |
| Neither approve nor disapprove | 15% | 12% | 11% |
| Disapprove somewhat | 18% | 18% | 11% |
| Disapprove strongly | 45% | 32% | 12% |
| Don't know | 4% | 6% | 6% |
| Category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Too much | 44% | 17% | 12% |
| Too little | 19% | 44% | 60% |
| About the right amount | 22% | 20% | 22% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 15% | 20% | 7% |
Snapshots of trend in Donald Trump favorability ratings
| category | Favorable | Unfavorable | Neither/Don't know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov. 2015 | 34% | 51% | 12% |
| Feb. 2016 | 29% | 59% | 9% |
| June 2016 | 31% | 56% | 10% |
| Oct. 2016 | 31% | 58% | 9% |
| Feb. 2017 | 45% | 46% | 7% |
| Oct. 2020 | 46% | 48% | 6% |
| Feb. 2021 | 46% | 46% | 8% |
| June 2021 | 47% | 47% | 6% |
| Oct. 2021 | 43% | 48% | 6% |
| Feb. 2022 | 43% | 46% | 10% |
| Apr. 2022 | 45% | 47% | 7% |
| June 2022 | 42% | 48% | 11% |
| Aug. 2022 | 41% | 50% | 9% |
| Oct. 2022 | 44% | 47% | 9% |
| Dec. 2022 | 42% | 48% | 11% |
| Feb. 2023 | 41% | 48% | 11% |
| Apr. 2023 | 42% | 48% | 9% |
| June 2023 | 44% | 48% | 8% |
| Aug. 2023 | 41% | 51% | 8% |
| Dec. 2023 | 46% | 45% | 8% |
| Feb. 2024 | 49% | 45% | 7% |
| Apr. 2024 | 49% | 44% | 8% |
| June 2024 | 45% | 49% | 7% |
| Aug. 2024 | 49% | 48% | 4% |
| category | Favorable | Unfavorable | Neither/Don't know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov. 2015 | 54% | 31% | 12% |
| Feb. 2016 | 47% | 41% | 10% |
| June 2016 | 53% | 32% | 13% |
| Oct. 2016 | 60% | 30% | 10% |
| Feb. 2017 | 81% | 12% | 6% |
| Oct. 2020 | 85% | 12% | 4% |
| Feb. 2021 | 85% | 9% | 7% |
| June 2021 | 86% | 8% | 5% |
| Oct. 2021 | 82% | 12% | 6% |
| Feb. 2022 | 80% | 13% | 7% |
| Apr. 2022 | 79% | 10% | 10% |
| June 2022 | 76% | 12% | 11% |
| Aug. 2022 | 76% | 14% | 9% |
| Oct. 2022 | 82% | 9% | 9% |
| Dec. 2022 | 75% | 17% | 9% |
| Feb. 2023 | 79% | 12% | 10% |
| Apr. 2023 | 78% | 16% | 6% |
| June 2023 | 76% | 16% | 8% |
| Aug. 2023 | 79% | 15% | 7% |
| Dec. 2023 | 80% | 13% | 8% |
| Feb. 2024 | 83% | 12% | 5% |
| Apr. 2024 | 84% | 10% | 6% |
| June 2024 | 79% | 14% | 6% |
| Aug. 2024 | 88% | 9% | 3% |
| category | Favorable | Unfavorable | Neither/Don't know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov. 2015 | 28% | 46% | 22% |
| Feb. 2016 | 32% | 55% | 10% |
| June 2016 | 30% | 51% | 16% |
| Oct. 2016 | 27% | 61% | 12% |
| Feb. 2017 | 42% | 45% | 12% |
| Oct. 2020 | 27% | 55% | 17% |
| Feb. 2021 | 36% | 43% | 20% |
| June 2021 | 34% | 49% | 16% |
| Oct. 2021 | 26% | 55% | 13% |
| Feb. 2022 | 37% | 49% | 14% |
| Apr. 2022 | 35% | 51% | 11% |
| June 2022 | 27% | 51% | 22% |
| Aug. 2022 | 28% | 53% | 18% |
| Oct. 2022 | 33% | 51% | 17% |
| Dec. 2022 | 28% | 53% | 19% |
| Feb. 2023 | 28% | 54% | 19% |
| Apr. 2023 | 28% | 57% | 15% |
| June 2023 | 33% | 55% | 12% |
| Aug. 2023 | 34% | 53% | 12% |
| Dec. 2023 | 36% | 52% | 13% |
| Feb. 2024 | 42% | 49% | 9% |
| Apr. 2024 | 31% | 56% | 13% |
| June 2024 | 31% | 59% | 11% |
| Aug. 2024 | 34% | 57% | 9% |
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.