Texas Attitudes Toward President Trump as He Comes to Dallas For Campaign Fundraiser

President Donald Trump will be in Dallas for a fundraiser Wednesday in a week which also sees a convocation of Trump fundraisers presided over by T. Boone Pickens at his Amarillo ranch and a paid speech by Donald Trump, Jr. at the University of North Texas. The Trump visit comes in the wake of fresh data from the UT/Texas Tribune Poll on Texans’ attitudes toward the president's job performance overall, his handling of various public matters, and his character traits.  Ross Ramsey wrote about the Trump numbers in The Texas Tribune when they were released last week.

Gromer Jeffers Jr. and Todd Gillman wrote a good preview piece in the Dallas Morning News that incorporated the latest UT/Texas Tribune poll numbers as part of a look at Trump’s position in Texas. We’ve gathered some highlights of the poll numbers below to mark the presidential visit.

We’ll give pride of place to a few graphics that qualify some of the partisan quotes given to Gillman and Jeffers for their preview. State Democratic Party chairman Gilberto Hinojosa spun Trump’s polling numbers thusly:

"This guy's polling horrendously," he said. And to be below 50 percent in Texas, he added, "a state that's considered to be solid red, is a sign of problems. ... It's a product of the messes he's created."

Trump’s overall number is below fifty because Democrats are so steadfastly negative about Trump, as a look at Trump’s numbers broken down by party illustrate.

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categoryDemocratIndependentRepublican
Approve strongly3%31%47%
Approve somewhat2%24%31%
Neither approve nor disapprove3%9%6%
Disapprove somewhat8%10%7%
Disapprove strongly84%25%8%
Don't know1%1%1%

State Republican party chairman James Dickey recognized that Democrats’ deep opposition to Trump deflates his absolute number, and uses the fact to portray them as SO much more unfair to Trump that Republicans were to President Barack Obama:

"Republicans were willing to give President Obama the benefit of the doubt," so he enjoyed more cross-party support, Dickey asserted. "For whatever reason, Democrats have decided it's my way or the highway. That's unfortunate."

A brief look at our extensive time series of Obama’s public approval numbers among Texas Republicans suggests the amount of spin the GOP chairman was generating here deserves a rating on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. In the October 2009 UT/Texas Tribune Poll, Barack Obama's job approval stood at 40 percent overall, with 89 percent of Texas Republicans disapproving – remarkably similar, in fact, to Trump's overall job approval of 45 percent, with 92 percent of Democrats disapproving, in October 2017.

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Total GOP DisapprovalGOP Disapprove StronglyGOP Disapprove Somewhat
October 200989%80%9%
February 201088%75%13%
May 201095%85%10%
October 201094%88%6%
February 201191%80%11%
May 201192%81%11%
October 201191%85%6%
February 201295%88%7%
May 201291%82%9%
October 201295%85%10%
February 201394%86%8%
June 201390%79%11%
October 201392%81%11%
February 201491%80%11%
June 201493%86%7%
October 201493%86%7%
February 201592%82%10%
June 201590%80%10%
November 201590%82%8%
February 201690%81%9%
June 201688%81%7%
October 201689%80%9%

Some more Trump data points from the October 2017 UT/Texas Tribune Poll.

Partisan views on Trump’s handling of issues also undermines Hinojosa’s claim in the Dallas Morning News that “the messes he’s made” have undermined Trump’s poll numbers (at least among Republicans) – getting the Democratic chair close to an EF rating, too.

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TraitDemocratRepublican
is a strong leader?782
is competent?777
is knowledgeable?877
cares about people like you?473
is honest and trustworthy?468
has the temperament to serve effectively as president?562

The one place where Trump did merely terribly instead of abysmally among Democrats was his handling of the aftermath of Harvey & other storms that hit the continental United States.

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categoryDemocratIndependentRepublican
Approve strongly5%45%71%
Approve somewhat15%20%16%
Neither approve nor disapprove18%13%6%
Disapprove somewhat17%4%3%
Disapprove strongly40%14%3%
Don't know5%4%1%

Republicans may be skeptical of some of Trump’s traits, but still see him as a strong leader – and that’s what seems to count with them.

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DemocratsRepublicans
Hurricane Damage (TX/FL/LA)20%87%
Judicial Nominees4%78%
Border Security5%76%
North Korea6%75%
Hurricane Damage (PR/VI)6%75%
Relations with U.S. Allies4%72%
Protests by Athletes6%68%
Health Care5%67%
DACA7%65%
Race Relations5%62%
Russian Election Interference4%59%
Congressional Relations4%57%
White Supremecists3%57%

Trump is performing particularly well among the Tea Party faction in Texas.

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categoryDemocratRepublicanTea Party
Approve strongly1%44%63%
Approve somewhat4%34%23%
Neither approve nor disapprove4%8%1%
Disapprove somewhat6%6%6%
Disapprove strongly85%7%7%
Don't know0%0%0%

If you're looking for all of the Donald Trump-related items from the October 2017 UT/Texas Tribune Poll, our search page makes them easy to find and then filter for what you seek.