Blogs: Public Education

James Henson and Joshua Blank talk about the progress made on major legislation this week and where the legislative leadership stands as the end of the regular session looms.

James Henson and Joshua Blank look at the big issues still pending in the Texas Legislature, including property taxes, education funding, water, the budget, bail, THC products, and more as deadline pressures suffocate House bills. Also: #txlege theme songs.

After a brief post-election honeymoon in Texas, President Donald J. Trump’s job approval ratings have fallen back to levels found during his first term in office, as Texans’ widespread economic concerns persist amidst the President’s ongoing trade war, according to a new University of Texas / Texas Politics project Poll. With 47% of Texas voters approving of the job he is doing as President and 46% disapproving, Trump barely remains in net-positive territory in Texas, though.

The basic configuration of public opinion before, during, and now in the wake of millions spent on advocacy and campaigning has been fairly apparent in University of Texas/Texas Politics Project polling over the last few years.

A new University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll finds Texas voters broadly aligned with the overall agenda outlined by the governor, legislative leaders, and lawmakers, though there are stark, if familiar, differences between Republicans and Democrats over which issues lawmakers should prioritize in the ongoing legislative session.

James Henson talks with Greg Cox about his recently launched Texas politics newsletter, and the state of play in the legislature, where he finds people generally getting along better after the heated 2023-2024 sequence in Texas.

Jim Henson and Joshua Blank talk over the public opinion context of Gov. Abbott's emergency items.

James Henson & Joshua Blank look at baseline attitudes on likely agenda items in the run-up to Gov. Abbott's State of the State address and Lt. Gov. Patrick's declaration of Senate priorities.

The last two legislative sessions saw Texas Republicans successfully championing new laws that gained national attention for testing the boundaries of Constitutionality and public acceptance. From Texas’ de facto ban on abortion, with its creation of a civil bounty-hunting enforcement mechanism, to the assertion of state authority over border and immigration enforcement, the Republican-led legislature and leading statewide elected officials have invested an enormous amount of political capital in implementing measures expected to appeal strongly to the most conservative corners of the Texas GOP. Yet public opinion polling and the emerging dynamics of the 2024 GOP primary suggest that for Republican legislative incumbents, the threshold for demonstrating that you have the right stuff to avoid being challenged from the right in this year’s heated primary is at best a moving target.

In the first Second Reading Podcast of 2024, Jim Henson and Joshua Blank look at how voters' assessments of the extended 2023 session provide part of the context of the 2024 Republican primary in Texas.