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A new University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll finds approval of President Donald Trump’s job performance falling into net-negative territory for the first time in his second term, with 44% approving and 51% disapproving, tied for the highest negative job approval rating ever recorded for Trump in University of Texas polling. Texans’ views of the performance of state political leaders also took a negative turn as economic concerns persist in the Lone Star State, and the legislature looks toward a potentially heated special session following Gov. Greg Abbott’s veto of SB 3, the comprehensive ban on hemp-derived and other THC products aggressively championed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

In the wake of Gov. Abbott’s veto, and his subsequent announcement that he would convene a special session in July to reconsider less restrictive regulation, the poll reveals that Texas voters largely side with Abbott overall, but with the plurality of Republicans slightly in favor of the ban favored by Lt. Gov. Patrick.

More than half of Texas voters, 53%, opposed the ban passed by the Legislature, while 31% supported it. Republicans remain closely divided, with 46% supporting a ban and 39% opposing it, a reflection of Texas Republicans’ divided opinions on the legal status of marijuana writ large Well more than half of Democrats (68%) and independents (58%) were opposed to the Legislature’s THC ban. In another item assessing the more general handling of marijuana/cannabis laws by state leaders and the legislature, 22% approved and 47% disapproved of the state’s performance so far, with similar patterns in partisan evaluations to those seen in the more specific item. The poll was conducted shortly after the end of the session but prior to Abbott’s veto.

The issue triggered a rare eruption of open conflict between Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick earlier this week after the Governor’s last-minute veto late Sunday evening, and the Lt. Governor’s subsequent, direct criticism of the governor’s action in a Monday press conference at the Texas Capitol. In a related finding in the latest poll that also revealed tensions among Republicans on marijuana-related legislation, 54% of Texas voters say they support increasing the number of conditions that allow Texans to access the state’s medical marijuana program, including 59% of Republicans and 54% of Democrats. The bill expanding access to the program was signed into law by Governor Abbott after being linked to the THC product debate in the final weeks of the regular session.

The poll surveyed 1200 registered voters and was conducted from June 6 through June 16, with a margin of error of 2.83% for the full sample. The survey was designed by Texas Politics Project researchers with data collection by YouGov.

Texas’ elected officials, now facing a potentially divisive special legislative session in the run up to the 2026 elections, also saw small but clear declines in their job approval ratings. Governor Greg Abbott’s job approval ratings fell slightly compared to April UT/TxPP polling: 41% approved and 44% disapproved in the most recent survey, down from 44% approval and 43% disapproval in the spring survey. Lt. Gov. Patrick’s overall job approval ratings also saw a decline in voters’ assessment of his job performance compared to recent polling, with 30% approving and 42% disapproving in June, down from an evenly divided 36% approving and 36% disapproving in April, a 12-point swing in a less approving direction.

The latest data illustrates that President Trump was not the only elected official to see their job approval ratings sag in June polling. As trend data from the Texas Politics Project illustrates, 41% is the floor of the Governor’s job approval ratings in a time series of 45 polls going back to 2015. In addition to the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor, Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows, serving his first term as presiding officer, also experienced a decline in his job approval rating compared with April polling (see more detail below).

The poll found bipartisan support for several of the priority measures passed during the regular session of the state legislature that concluded on June 2, though voters’ estimation of the job performance of the legislature was even more dim than their estimation of individual elected officials.

PUBLIC OPINION AND THE 89TH LEGISLATURE

Anemic job approval ratings for the Texas Legislature contribute to an overall portrait of a Texas electorate unenthusiastic about political leadership and government institutions, even as they express support for some of the legislation prioritized by leaders in the recently-concluded regular session. In the poll, conducted shortly after the legislature adjourned sine die on June 2, only 26% of Texas voters said that they approved of the job the legislature is doing, while 45% disapproved. A plurality of Republican voters, 46%, approved of the legislature’s job performance, though slightly more than one in five disapproved (22%), with one in three either neutral (26%) or holding no opinion (7%). Only 11% of both Democrats and independents approved of the Legislature’s job performance.

Asked whether the legislature, having concluded the regular session, has made the lives of Texans like them better, worse, or made no impact, fewer than one in four Texans, 22%, said that the legislature had made their lives better (only 3% said “a lot better”), while 37% said that they had made the lives of Texans like them worse. These evaluations were more negative than those recorded at the end of the 2023 (29% better, 30% worse) and 2021 sessions (34% better, 35% worse).

Yet despite declines in the job approval ratings of state leadership and weak ratings of the Legislature, Texas voters expressed bipartisan approval for a handful of the high priority items accomplished by the state’s Republican leadership — though many of the session’s most controversial items received more mixed reviews, reflecting the state’s sharp partisan divisions.

The poll found bipartisan support among Texas voters for several of the Republican leadership’s most highly prioritized and promoted priorities: 

• 84% support increasing funding to improve the reliability of the state’s water supply, including 88% of Republicans and 80% of Democrats.

• 78% support creating a Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, including 81% of both Republicans and Democrats.

• 74% support increasing funding for the public education system (67% of Republicans, 83% of Democrats).

• 71% support lowering property taxes by increasing the homestead exemption (85% of Republicans, 59% of Democrats)

• 69% support restricting children’s access to social media (83% of Republicans, 57% of Democrats)

• 68% support clarifying when doctors in Texas can perform a legal abortion if a woman’s life is at risk (78% of Republicans and 61% of Democrats).

The Legislature passed bills delivering all but one of these broadly supported proposals – a house bill that would have severely restricted minors’ access to social media accounts (HB 186) failed to get a vote in the Senate after sailing through the House. Gov. Abbott has already signed a less restrictive Senate Bill (SB 2420) introducing parental consent and age restrictions for application downloads.

The next tier of legislative priorities included in the poll received support from narrow majorities as a result of more division among one or both groups of partisans.

• 65% support banning the use of cell phones in K-12 public schools during school hours (81% of Republicans, 50% of Democrats).

• 65% support limiting the ability of judges to release people accused of serious crimes on bail (87% of Republicans, but a much lower 46% of Democrats, a plurality, but with about a third, 34%, opposed). 

• 57% support creating new property ownership restrictions in Texas for people and entities associated with countries determined to be hostile to the U.S. (84% of Republicans, 33% of Democrats).

• 54% support increasing the number of conditions that allow access to the state’s medical marijuana program (59% of Republicans, 54% of Democrats).

• 53% support “establishing an educational savings account (ESA) program,” a high priority issue for Gov. Abbott and the legislative leadership after the continuous failure to do so in the previous session and the targeting of ESA opponents by Gov. Abbott and ESA supporters during the 2024 GOP primaries. Just over two-thirds of Republicans, 67%, support the creation of the ESA program, while 11% are opposed. Among Democrats, 42% support the creation of the ESA program while 30% are opposed.

• 52% support directing state agencies and local law enforcement to cooperate with the federal government in enforcing immigration policies (supported by 87% of Republicans, but only 20% of Democrats, with nearly two-thirds, 64%, opposed).

A third tier of largely polarizing, socially-oriented legislation enjoyed support from fewer than half of Texas voters overall.

• 46% support increasing the number of days that Texas public school students can be suspended for disciplinary reasons (supported by 68% of Republicans, but only 26% of Democrats).

• 44% support requiring public schools in Texas to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom, while 43% opposed such a requirement. About two-thirds of Republicans supported the proposal (68%), which has already been signed into law by Gov. Abbott, while about the same share of Democrats opposed it (67%), with 22% supportive. A majority of independents, 54%, were opposed, with 23% expressing support.

• 43% support prohibiting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and programs at K-12 public schools in Texas, while 44% oppose such a prohibition. More than three-quarters of Republicans, 78%, support these efforts while 80% of Democrats oppose them – a clear example of an issue that is deeply polarizing.

• 31% support outlawing the production and sale of hemp-derived cannabis products in Texas, including consumables, while more than half, 53%, oppose it.

The different levels of support for these three sets of items promoted by the Governor, Lt. Governor, and other leaders as legislative priorities suggest that those in the first tier (with the highest levels of support across partisan lines) will be fairly positively received by the general electorate come campaign time next year – e.g. water infrastructure investments, increased public education spending, property tax cuts, clarified abortion laws, and funding dementia research. Where the legislative priorities result in more division in the overall electorate, it’s likely that those issues will be fodder for incumbent Republicans looking to protect their seats in GOP primaries in 2026 (and talking points in Democratic primaries too).

But any search for key issues in the 2026 elections based on the now-concluded regular session of the 89th Legislature must consider that reported attention to the legislative session remains traditionally low. Only 7% of Texas voters said they were following the legislative session “extremely closely,” with another 40% professing to be following it “somewhat closely.” More than half said that they were not following the legislative session “very closely” (38%) or at all (16%). It will be left up to candidates and their campaigns to convey to most voters their versions of what the legislature and the state leadership accomplished.

VIEWS OF DONALD TRUMP AND HIS ADMINISTRATION

Donald Trump’s direct injection of his influence into legislative politics during the regular session and what appears to be his direct role in influencing Gov. Abbott’s calling of a special session adds still more evidence of a continued nationalization of Texas politics. (While Gov. Abbott did not mention redistricting as one of the items he plans to add to the call, the fact that he has called one with the initial rationale of fixing some of the legislation he vetoed makes it unlikely that Abbott would risk triggering the President’s ire by reconvening the Legislature without carrying out Trump’s call for mid-decade redistricting.) 

From the economic uncertainty caused by his aggressive (if erratic) tariff push, to the White House's direct intervention with Republican legislators on specific issues (including the high-profile ESA bill, the lesser-heralded, MAHA-fueled product labeling bill, and, belatedly, mid-session redistricting demands – all of which channel Trump’s influence over GOP primary voters) Donald Trump loomed large over the regular session of the 89th Legislature. While the occupant of the White House can generally be expected to impact the political environment at the state level, Trump’s habit of attempting to directly influence state politics and governance has made him a much bigger factor in Texas politics than most of his predecessors (with the possible exception of the presidents from Texas). To some extent, Republican candidates in 2026 will be tethered to Trump, and subject to any fallout from his actions both large (i.e. on matters of national policy) and small (i.e. his potential endorsements or lack thereof in state races).

The latest decline in Trump’s overall job approval ratings among all Texas voters is his third consecutive decrease in Texas Politics Project polling conducted during of his second term,  declining from 52% when he assumed office in February polling, to 47% in April, and now sitting at 44%, with a majority, 51%, now disapproving.

But Texas Republicans remain largely loyal to Trump, even as their support shows minor signs of erosion but no clear indication of a steep decline, and no way to tell based on the limited data available so far whether this decline will continue, and if so, at what rate.

Overall, 87% of Republicans said they approve of the job Trump is doing as of June, down from 92% in February, and 89% in April, a potential trend that merits watching amidst the continued boundary-testing of Trump’s second term, including what have traditionally been considered Republican boundaries. That said, Trump’s approval ratings among Republicans exceed those of his two closest rivals for the affections of Texas Republicans, Gov. Abbott (77%)  and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (73%).

Taking a deeper look at Texas voters’ views of Trump’s performance in 16 policy areas, the poll finds the president receiving majority approval in only one area — border security — and only barely, 51%. In addition, Trump is only in net positive territory (more approval than disapproval) in three areas: border security (51% approve; 41% disapprove); immigration (47% approve; 46% disapprove); and crime and public safety (43% approve; 42% disapprove). In each of the other 13 policy areas tested, more voters disapprove of Trump’s job performance than approve, with a slight majority disapproving of his job performance on the economy (51% disapprove; 39% approve) and inflation and prices (52% disapprove; 34% approve).

As with overall approval, Texas Republicans express more approval than disapproval for each of the 16 policy areas tested, with border security (90% approval), immigration (88%), and crime and public safety (83%) topping the list; followed by foreign policy (77%), the economy (74%), trade negotiations (73%), and the federal workforce (73%).

While Democrats continue to hold the expected, overwhelmingly negative views of the President’s job performance, with approval no higher than 10% for any of the 16 policy areas and disapproval ratings ranging from 76% to 90%, independents are souring on how Trump governs. Notably, Trump is underwater on each of the 16 policy areas among independent voters, including the disapproval of more than 60% in 6 areas including taxes (62% disapproval), inflation and prices (62%), the economy (64%), foreign policy, trade negotiations, and government spending (65% disapproval each, respectively).

The economic evaluations bear particular attention given the importance of that issue in the 2024 elections, and the fact that the 51% of Texas voters saying that the national economy is worse compared to last year is greater than the share saying the same in any of the six UT/TxPP surveys conducted in 2024 – a year in which economic concerns helped define the national election.

Looking specifically at the president’s economic job approval numbers, 51% disapproving of his job performance is the worst rating Trump has received across seven UT/TxPP polls asking the question across both of his terms. During his first term, Trump received more approval than disapproval from Texas voters for his handling of the economy in each of five surveys. In 2025, more have disapproved than approved in each of the two instances in which the question has been asked so far. And while here, too, the president maintains the support of Texas Republicans, the share approving of his economic job performance, 74%, with 14% disapproving, is significantly less than the 90% approval he averaged during his first term.

Among independents, the share approving of Trump’s handling of the economy has declined from 27% approval and 53% disapproval in April polling to 21% approval and 64% disapproval in June.

Asked their opinions about some of the more prominent members of the Trump administration, a majority of Texas voters, 53%, said that they held an unfavorable view of Elon Musk, while 33% said that they held a favorable view. While Democrats (89% unfavorable, 5% favorable) and independents (60% unfavorable, 23% favorable) hold overwhelmingly negative views of Musk, Republicans maintain net positive views, with 62% having a favorable impression of the former “DOGE” leader and 19% having an unfavorable view.

Texans’ views of Musk have deteriorated significantly in recent months, with the plurality holding a favorable view of the Tesla founder in February (48% favorable; 41% unfavorable), reaching a break even point in April (43% favorable; 44% unfavorable) before running out of juice in June (33% favorable; 53% unfavorable).

Views of the government efficiency effort associated with Musk under the “DOGE” banner also cooled in Texas since April, when 44% held a favorable, and 37% an unfavorable impression of the government efficiency efforts. In June, 40% held a favorable, and 41% an unfavorable impression. While Republican (77% favorable, 7% unfavorable) and Democratic views (6% favorable; 77% unfavorable) remain basically unchanged since April, the share of independents holding a favorable view of DOGE declined from 30% to 23%, while the share with an unfavorable view increased from 39% to 48%.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., another high profile figure in the Trump Administration whose pressing of the “Make America Healthy Again” trope played a role in the passage health and food safety legislation during the legislative session, also finds himself underwater, with 39% of Texans holding a favorable view of him and 44% holding an unfavorable view. RFK, Jr. performs slightly better than Musk among partisans after Musk’s public spat with Trump, with 71% of Republicans holding a favorable view, and only 10% holding an unfavorable view. Among Democrats, 9% view the former Democrat RFK, Jr. favorably, with 81% holding an unfavorable view; among independents, a majority, 54%, view RFK, Jr., unfavorably, compared to 28% who hold a favorable impression.

And while views towards some prominent Trump Administration officials have soured, so too have views about the impact of some of the administration’s top priorities. A plurality of Texans think that efforts to reduce federal spending (46%) and efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce (48%) will be bad for the state. Additionally, a majority, 55%, say that increasing tariffs on imported goods will be bad for Texas, with only 30% saying it will be good for the state. On a personal level, 57% say that increasing tariffs will hurt their own personal economic situations, up from 53% in April. A larger share, 71%, expect to pay higher prices due to tariffs, and a majority, 53%, say that those tariffs will hurt the U.S. economy in the long-run. The share expecting a negative long-term impact to the U.S. economy as a result of Trump’s tariff push has increased from 44% in February, to 46% in April, to 53% today.

THE ECONOMY

While the high anxiety about economic matters captured in the April UT/Texas Politics Project Poll — fielded just after “liberation day” and the upheaval in domestic and international stock markets, consumer sentiment, and trade relations that followed — has decreased, it has by no means disappeared amidst Texas voters’ increasingly negative macro assessments.

Specifically, majorities of Texas voters remain “very concerned” about the cost of housing (53%), the price of food and consumer goods (60%), and the cost of healthcare (61%). While this measurement of economic concerns is somewhat abated from peaks captured in December 2024 and February 2025, they remain unchanged from April polling. Republicans, unsurprisingly, have demonstrated the biggest decline in concerns since Trump took office. And while the 49% remaining “very concerned” about prices is by no means something to celebrate, it is significantly lower than the 72% registered in February among the same partisans.

Despite the decline in intensity for specific economic concerns from peaks recorded late last year and at the beginning of this year, Texans’ evaluations of their personal economic situations remain stagnant. Overall, the plurality, 39%, say that their economic situation remains unchanged compared to last year, with a near equal share, 37%, saying that they’re doing worse, and only 21% saying that their economic situation has improved — statistically indistinguishable from April polling.

And while Texans’ views of their own economic situations remain stagnant, their views of the national economy continue to deteriorate, with a majority of Texans, 51%, saying that the national economy is worse than last year, the most negative recording since October 2023 (55%), and worse than any recording in 2024. Only 30% say that the national economy is doing better, with the share saying the economy is performing worse increasing from 39% in February, to 46% in April, to 51% in June.

Further illustrating Texans’ negative economic sentiments, for the first time in Trump’s second term, more Texans expect the economy to be worse one year from now than expect it to be better — and the share expecting the economy to be worse, 38%, is the highest measured, including at any time taken in 2024 during Joe Biden’s presidency. Only 35% expect the national economy to be better in a year, statistically tied with the minimum, 34%, who said the same in June of 2024.

Nearly two-thirds of Republicans, 65%, expect the economy to improve, but this is less than the 72% who thought the same in April, and the 78% who thought the same in February. The share of Democrats expecting the economy to deteriorate over the next year has increased since February when it was 63%, to 66% in April, and 71% in June. The plurality of independents, 42%, expect the economy to get worse, compared to only 23% who expect to see the economy improve over the next year.

ASSESSMENTS OF CONDITIONS IN TEXAS

Texans’ assessment of their own state reflects an unusual degree of negativity, which has been building intermittently in polling, but is now likely being inflected by evolving economic concerns and generally negative attitudes toward political institutions and leaders fueled by party polarization.

Like views of their own economic situations, Texans’ views of the Texas economy remain stagnant, but negative. Overall, the plurality, 39%, say that the Texas economy is worse compared to last year, with 30% saying the state’s economy is about the same, and only 27% rating the state’s economy as improved over last year. This signals further deterioration in Texans’ views of the state economy since December of 2024. Since then, the share saying the state’s economy is doing worse has increased from 25% to 39%, while the share saying the state’s economy is improving remains unchanged.

In a recurring, broader assessment of governance in the state, Texans’ views of the Texas model of government were at historically low levels in the June 2025 UT/TxPP survey. Asked if they agree or disagree with the following statement, “Generally speaking, the way state government runs in Texas serves as a good model for other states to follow?” a majority of Texans did not agree for the first time since the question was first asked in February 2010. Overall, only 45% said that they agreed that other states would benefit from the Texas model, with 43% disagreeing. At least 50% of Texas voters have agreed with this statement in each of 14 surveys in which the question was asked prior to June 2025.

Asked to rate the performance of state leaders and the legislature in 18 different policy areas at the conclusion of the regular session, the state received net-positive reviews (more approval than disapproval) in only 6 policy areas, and in each of those six areas, approval never reached a majority, ranging from 34% (school safety) to 44% (immigration and border security). In each of the other 12 policy areas, more Texans disapproved than approved of the legislature’s performance.

Asked whether the state is headed in the right direction, or if the state is on the wrong track, 50% of Texans offered that the state is on the wrong track — the highest share giving a negative assessment since October 2023 (also 50%). Only 39% suggested that the state is on the right track.

Reflecting this concern, 17% of Texas voters, nearly one in five, said that political corruption or leadership is the biggest problem facing the state in June polling, trailing habitual front runners immigration and border security (21% combined) and the economy and inflation/rising prices (20% combined), but only barely. Of course, these different concerns reflect significant partisan differences, with 31% of Democrats citing political corruption and leadership as the state’s top problems, but only 5% of Republicans. Likewise, 37% of Republicans cited immigration or the border as the state’s top priority, but only 7% of Democrats. The economy or prices remain  subjects of bipartisan concern, and were cited by 27% of independents as the state’s top problem, by 20% of Republicans, and by 16% of Democrats.

DISTANT 2026 ELECTION RUMBLINGS

Political professionals, journalists, and the social media universe are understandably eager to start handicapping what are likely to be hotly contested Senate primary elections with multiple candidates in both parties, particularly in the GOP contest where Sen. Cornyn is seeking re-election to a fifth term. But most Texas voters have not turned their attention to the race yet, even as the leading candidates on the GOP side, Sen. Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton, are already mounting vigorous efforts to shape views of each other and of the race (mostly on social media).

Texas voters report having heard relatively little about the 2026 U.S. Senate race in Texas. Only 9% reported having heard “a lot” about the race, the lowest share from among a set of responses probing how much Texas voters have heard about 13 political subjects in the news. An additional 36% had heard “some” about the election for the Senate seat currently held by the state’s senior senator, John Cornyn, who is running for re-election. But more than half, 55%, reported having heard “not very much” (37%) or “nothing at all” (18%). (For comparison: nine times as many voters, 72%, reported hearing “a lot” about deportations of immigrants by the federal government.) The filing deadline for candidates wanting to be on the primary ballot in Texas is December 8.

Job approval and favorability ratings of Cornyn and Paxton in the latest poll suggest that neither candidate is currently tapping into a wellspring of good feelings among Texas voters, though Paxton enjoys broader support among Republicans.

	Evaluations of John Cornyn and Ken Paxton (June 2025 University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Polling)
	John Cornyn						Ken Paxton
	Approve	Disapprove	Net	Favorable	Unfavorable	Net	Approve	Disapprove	Net	Favorable	Unfavorable	Net
Overall	24	46	-22	23	46	-23	29	43	-14	29	43	-14
Republicans	44	27	+17	43	27	+16	55	17	+38	52	16	+36
Strong Republicans	51	23	+18	49	22	+27	66	7	+59	63	10	+53
Conservatives	41	30	+11	40	31	+9	55	16	+39	54	17	+37
Extremely Conservative	48	32	+16	46	34	+12	79	4	+75	74	6	+68

In the June poll, 44% of Republican voters approved of Cornyn’s job performance, while 27% disapproved, with nearly a third either neutral toward the 4-term incumbent (20%) or holding no opinion (10%). Paxton’s job approval rating among Republicans, 55%, is 11 points higher than Cornyn’s, while his disapproval rating, 17%, is 10 points lower than Cornyn’s.

Paxton’s potential advantage in challenging Cornyn appears more pronounced when looking at the slices of the electorate expected to be the core of the Republican primary electorate.

• Among those who identify as “strong Republicans,” 51% approve and 23% disapprove of Cornyn’s job performance, while 66% approve and 7% disapprove of Attorney General Paxton’s.

• Among those who identify as “extremely conservative,” only a plurality, 48%, approve of Cornyn’s job performance while nearly a third, 33%, disapprove. Paxton occupies a significantly stronger position among the most conservative voters: 79% approve of his job performance, 31 points higher than Cornyn, with only 4% disapproving.

Favorability ratings of both candidates, designed to elicit more personal assessments of the candidate as opposed to their ability to carry out their jobs, demonstrate similar patterns.

IMMIGRATION POLITICS

Even as the flood of migrants attempting to cross the Texas-Mexico border has slowed to a trickle, immigration and border security continue to occupy a central role in Texas politics. But the public opinion terrain has shifted in important, if not entirely transformative, ways as attention has shifted to the Trump administrations ramped-up, often theatrical, efforts to locate and arrest undocumented immigrants in a wide variety of settings, from courthouses to workplaces to schools (both K-12 and higher education), in order to deport them as summarily as the administration can manage.

Likely resulting from the combination of decreased migrant flows (which started ebbing during the Biden administration) and increased concerns over sharply rising prices and the overall economy, the salience of immigration and border security has declined significantly among Texas voters, fueled in large part by a steady decrease in the priorities of Republicans — though they remain among the top-ranked problems facing the state. The June poll found 37% of Republicans identifying either border security (16%) or immigration (21%) as the most important problem facing the state – thirty percentage points less than the 68% who said the same in February 2024, but still the most cited issue overall among Texas Republicans, leading the economy and prices by one point.

Not surprisingly then, the poll continues to find significant support for immigration enforcement efforts, but in the context of less attention to the issue among Republican voters, and a vastly different context with respect to enforcement, even compared to just one year ago.

Asked, "Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: Undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States should be deported immediately," the latest poll found agreement among 51% of Texans and disagreement among 43%.

The shifting political environment has transformed this item from what was initially a check on underlying attitudes back in 2014 to something of a policy proposal in 2025, but the latest responses fit fairly neatly into the historic trend, allowing for shifts in the policy terrain. The share agreeing was four points lower than responses in February 2025 polling (55%), but was in the middle the range of responses going back to June 2014. The share who disagreed was the highest since February 2021, early in Trump’s first term, when 47% disagreed.

Texas Republicans have by no means abandoned their basic orientation to the issue: 86% agreed with the immediate deportation of all undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States, the sixth poll since February 2024 in which at least 80% of Republicans have agreed. Among Democrats, only 16% agreed with the concept of immediate, mass deportations, with 78% expressing disagreement —  results that represent something of a return to the pre-Biden administration pattern in Democratic attitudes after an uptick in pro-deportation responses during the surges in migration between early 2022 and 2024.

As is evident in prior polling, despite the clear patterns in support for what is described as a universal policy of deporting all undocumented immigrants, Texans’ responses to questions about specific immigration enforcement tactics reveals a lot of variance. Perhaps most striking, none of the specific instances of policy tactics being employed to increase overall deportation numbers earns majority support among Texans. 

• 50% oppose reducing the number of foreign students allowed to enroll at colleges or universities.

• 59% oppose arresting people who show up for hearings related to their immigration status at courthouses.

• 61% oppose arresting people who are in the country illegally while they are at a hospital.

• 62% oppose arresting people who are in the country illegally while they are at church.

• 62% oppose deporting immigrants who were allowed into the U.S. because of political persecution or safety concerns in their home countries.

• 67% oppose separating children from their parents when the parents are detained for entering the country illegally.

• 69% oppose arresting children who are in the country illegally while they are at school.

• 69% oppose deporting young people who were brought to the United States illegally as children, completed high school or military service, and have not been convicted of a violent crime.

Republicans expressed the most support for reducing the number of foreign students at colleges and universities (73% support; 17% oppose) and the least for deporting young people who were brought to the United States illegally as children, completed high school or military service, and have not been convicted of a violent crime, aka “Dreamers” (40% support; 48% oppose). In fact, even among those voters who agree with the concept of immediate deportation, the plurality, 47%, oppose deporting young people brought to the U.S. as children, with 42% expressing support for deporting “Dreamers.” At least 56% of Hispanic voters expressed opposition to each of the enforcement scenarios described in the poll.

Despite the clear complexity underlying the enforcement of immigration laws in the U.S., and in this case, Texans’ attitudes towards that enforcement, devotion to Trump generates a very strong tide that sweeps up and carries many Republicans to his preferred destination. Asked whether federal efforts to deport undocumented immigrants would be good or bad for Texas, a plurality, 47%, said they would be good for the state, while an only slightly smaller share, 42%, said they would be bad for the state. The results were starkly polarized along party lines: 78% of Democrats think that mass deportation efforts will be bad for Texas, while 84% of Republicans think these efforts will benefit the state.

ASSESSMENTS OF ELECTED OFFICIALS

In addition to the aforementioned drop in Gov. Abbott’s job approval rating, the other two members of legislative “big three” also experienced declines in their job approval ratings.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, widely considered to have been a driving force shaping the agenda during the recently-concluded legislative session, saw a steeper drop in voters’ assessment of his job performance compared to the others, from an evenly divided 36% approving and 36% disapproving in April to 30% approving and 42% disapproving in June. Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows’ ratings also decreased: 16% approved in June while 31% disapproved, compared to 18% approving in April with 28% disapproving.

Job approval summary

• Gov. Greg Abbott: 41% approve; 45% disapprove

• Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick: 30% approve; 42% disapprove

• Speaker Dustin Burrows: 16% approve; 31% disapprove

• Attorney General Ken Paxton: 29% approve; 43% disapprove

• Texas Legislature: 26% approve; 45% disapprove

• Senator John Cornyn: 24% approve; 46% disapprove

• Senator Ted Cruz: 28% approve; 49% disapprove

• U.S. Congress: 23% approve; 55% disapprove

• U.S. Supreme Court: 28% approve; 45% disapprove