Blogs: 2026 election

James Henson and Joshua Blank look at the polling results on health care, immigration, and the 2026 U.S. Senate race in the final UT/Texas Politics Poll of 2025, and what those results portend for the 2026 election year.

The final University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll of 2025 found Texas voters' attention to high prices pivoting towards health care costs as the 2026 election moves to the center of state politics.

James Henson and Joshua Blank dig up some highlights from UT/Texas Politics Project polling in 2025 on subjects including property taxes, speech rights, views of the legislature, healthcare, vaccines, and more.

James Henson and Joshua Blank look at how Donald Trump’s pardon of Henry Cuellar, and Jasmine Crockett’s likely entrance in the race to replace John Cornyn, have complicated the 2026 election in Texas – and maybe the U.S.

James Henson & Joshua Blank consider the politics of the federal court decision throwing out the recently redrawn Texas Congressional map, and the MAGA crack-up trope in the political press.

The Texas Politics Project Poll team – Daron Shaw, James Henson, and Joshua Blank – discuss what their latest poll tells us about the current Texas landscape for the 2026 election.

Amidst a prolonged federal government shutdown and one year away from the 2026 election, the October 2025 Texas Politics Project poll finds Texas voters reporting worsening personal economic conditions, with increasingly pessimistic views of the wider economy and the direction of the state and country.

After catching up on the federal shutdown, James Henson and Joshua Blank look at the political dynamics around Gov. Greg Abbott's fast deployment of Texas National Guard troops to Illinois at the order of President Trump, including a look at Texas attitudes toward Abbott's response to Operation Jade Helm a decade ago. 

James Henson and Joshua Blank look at the arc of the President's standing in Texas and how his ratings intersect persistent economic concerns in the state. Plus, they consider approaches to (very) early polling in the 2026 U.S. Senate race.

The August 2025 University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll finds Texas voters in broad agreement with the call to respond to issues related to flooding and more reductions in property taxes, but show significant partisan divisions in response to the drawing of new maps and most other issues on the special session agenda – and finds voters still worried about the economy.