George W. Bush

• Worst Examples, Best Intentions: Texas Data Points from the Week in Politics: July 15, 2016

  July 15, 2016 | By: Jim Henson, Joshua Blank

  The week started with a public memorial service for the police officers killed and injured in Dallas, which included President Obama visiting the state and former President and Texas Governor George W. Bush making a rare public speaking appearance. The news media channeled troubled thoughts about the deep structural politics of last week’s events as the usual partisan politics were largely muted early in the week. There were, of course, exceptions, including a prominent one who holds statewide office here. 

• The Public Opinion Context for the Anti-Muslim Turn in the 2016 GOP Nomination Race

  November 22, 2015 | By: James Henson, PhD

  Established patterns in attitudes among Republican voters working in concert with the sense of immediate crisis in the aftermath of Paris are surely fueling the surprising vehemence of the illiberal rhetoric and ideas about that are so at odds with the civil libertarian culture of the country. But the vehemence of this approach and its centrality to the current political debate are the results of political choices, especially those of the candidates vying for the GOP presidential nomination.

• Data Points from the Week in Texas Politics (October 23)

  October 23, 2015 | By: James Henson, PhD, Joshua Blank, PhD

  The presence of Texas candidates for speaker notwithstanding, Paul Ryan decided he would take a stab at the least attractive job in American politics this week, leaving the state to make national news not by putting a Texan in the Speaker’s chair but by pushing the GOP’s ongoing attack on Planned Parenthood to a new level. Texas ideas nonetheless had their day in the Congress, as the Senate tried and failed to take up anti-Sanctuary City legislation. David Vitter at least probably appreciated the effort, but 2011 called and they want their issue back.  In the presidential arena, House Republicans teamed up with Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb to give the Clinton campaign a good week, while over in the GOP George W. Bush is So. Over. Ted. Cruz. And wants you to know it, apparently. It didn’t seem, however, to do much good, as the GOP 2016 stories at week's end were about Carson surpassing Trump in Iowa polling while the Jeb! campaign moved to cut payroll costs.

• Leaving Tests Behind

  April 17, 2014 | By: James Henson, PhD, Joshua Blank, PhD

  The same voters who responded well to George W. Bush's education policies oppose one of its main components: the standardized tests introduced to make schools more accountable.

• Threading the Needle on Education

  April 10, 2014 | By: James Henson, PhD, Joshua Blank, PhD

  Education policy is usually a winner for Democratic candidates, but in Texas, things are more nuanced, especially when it comes to education spending. This year's race for governor race is a great example.