Keyword: Gun Violence
Second Reading Podcast: Coalitional Politics as the 88th Legislature Heats Up
In the latest Second Reading Podcast, Jim Henson and Josh Blank discuss how the attitudes of different elements of the majority Republcan coalition are likely to impact the movement of legislation, or lack thereof, in hot-button areas as the legislature heats up.
With the 2023 State of the Union address on deck, a look at Texas views of President Joe Biden
President Joe Biden is widely expected to use his third State of the Union address to tout legislative achievements in the first two years of his presidency while pointng to historically low unemployment – even as the Federal Reserve continues its efforts to wring price inflation out of an economy still on an uncertain trajectory – and political terrain that is just as uncertain. While the 2022 election proved to be a relative success for Biden compared to the usual (and widely predicted) first mid-term losses experienced by the party of incumbent presidents, Texas voters' assessment of him reflect the political landscape in a state which stayed firmly in Republican hands at the state level in 2022 after voting for loser Donald Trump by a margin of 52.1% to Biden's 46.5% in 2020.
Public Opinion Context for the One and Only Texas Gubernatorial Debate
The gubernatorial debate between incumbent Republican Governor Greg Abbott and Democratic challenger Beto ORourke in McAllen, Texas is likely to be the only time the two candidates will share a stage in the 2022 campaign. The University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll has been exploring Texas attitudes related to the candidates and the broader context of the election over the last year, and got into extensive detail in our most recent poll, which was conducted from August 26-September 6. To provide context for tonight’s debate, we’ve gathered several results that illustrate how Texans view each of the candidates, their comparative levels of trust on the major issues emerging in the campaign, and more. This post is built for browsing
Second Reading Podcast: The 2022 election in Texas through the lens of issue attitudes in the latest UT/Texas Politics Project Poll
In a new Second Reading Podcast, Jim Henson and Josh Blank discuss results from the recent University of Texas/Texas Politics Poll on issues in the Texas gubernatorial election in November, including abortion, border security, the economy, gun safety and the Robb Elementary shooting, and more.
Political evasions taint the work of the House Committee Report on the Robb Elementary School Mass Shooting
The House investigative committee’s report on the Robb Elementary School mass shooting confirmed much of what had been trickling out about how the situation unfolded, particularly the failures of the law enforcement response and in the execution of school safety procedures at the school. Most media coverage of the report emphasizes the directness of the report in detailing the failures in implementation of safety practices at Robb Elementary, and the failure to follow established policy, lack of leadership, and general chaos among all law enforcement on the scene. But the report also reflects the politics of the moment in its lack of detail regarding the roles played by state agencies, particularly the heavily represented Texas Department of Public Safety – and, most glaringly, leaves the consequences of the killers’ choice of weaponry unaddressed, even as that weapon hovers over the very detailed narrative of what the law enforcement personnel were doing – and more critically, what they were not doing – in the hallway outside the rooms where nineteen children and two adults were murdered.
Second Reading Podcast: Ross Ramsey joins a conversation about the latest UT/Texas Politics Project Poll
In a new Second Reading Podcast, co-founder of the Texas Tribune Ross Ramsey joins Jim Henson and Josh Blank to discuss Texas attitudes on the 2022 election, gun violence, abortion, democracy and other results from the latest University of Texas/Texas Politics Poll.
New UT/Texas Politics Project Poll: Share of Texans Saying State is on the Wrong Track Reaches New High, while majority still oppose banning abortion
A new University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll finds 15% of Texans expressing support for a complete ban on abortion access in polling conducted primarily in the week prior to the U.S. Supreme Court’s announcement of its landmark opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. While 37% of Texas voters say that they support "trigger law" that would ban abortion in most cases in Texas in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling, no more than 36% would foreclose all access to legal abortion across a range of circumstances.
The survey also found Texans expressing overwhelmingly negative views of the economy: 53% said that their personal economic situation is worse than a year ago; 58% said the Texas economy is worse than a year ago; and 73% said the national economy is worse than it was a year ago. All three represented the highest negative assessments since the poll began tracking these attitudes. With elections for statewide offices and the Texas legislature just over four months away, 59% said the state was on the wrong track — the largest share of negative responses in the poll’s history.
Second Reading Podcast: The #Txlege holds public hearings on the Uvalde shootings in the wake of the RPT convention in Houston
In a new Second Reading Podcast, Jim Henson and Josh Blank discuss public hearings on the Uvalde shootings in Texas, and the implications of the platform proposals that emerge from the Republican Party of Texas's state convention last week in Houston.
John Cornyn’s effort to provide GOP with political cover on gun violence is a reminder that he is the last Bush Republican standing in Texas
With Ken Paxton's defeat of George P. Bush, Cornyn remains the last artifact of Bush era Texas Republicanism — if not a member of the dynasty by blood, he may well nevertheless be the last elected Bushie still standing.
Second Reading Podcast: A conversation with the Los Angeles Times' Molly Hennessy-Fiske about her reporting from Texas
In a new Second Reading Podcast, Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Houston Bureau Chief for the Los Angeles Times, talks with Jim Henson about her recent reporting from Texas, including her embed with a milita group on the Texas-Mexico border and coverage of the Uvalde mass shooting and its aftermath.