Blogs: Texas Economy

James Henson and Joshua Blank dig into what UT/Texas Politics Project polling can tell us about the public opinion context for the government shutdown in Texas.

A new University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll finds President Donald Trump’s job approval falling into net-negative territory for the first time in his second term, with 44% approving and 51% disapproving. Texans’ views of the performance of state political leaders also took a negative turn as economic concerns persist in the Lone Star State.

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.

In the latest Second Reading podcast, Jim Henson and Josh Blank look at issues at the intersection of business and state government likely to get attention in the Texas Legislature in 2023.

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.

The latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll focused on attitudes toward the COVID-19 pandemic and the responses to it, and lands amidst widespread speculation about Governor Greg Abbott’s promised updates on modifications to the statewide stay-at-home orders he issued less than a month ago on April 2. That speculation is intense among Texans subject to it, but is also being anticipated at the national level given Texas’ role as a conservative policy bellwether as well as the criticism of other state’s seemingly premature loosening of their own stay at home measures (see Georgia). With Abbott in the spotlight in the state and the nation Monday, we’ve gathered several results focused on attitudes toward the governor and the policies implemented in Texas by both Abbott and localities — and presumably subject to change.

President Trump’s announced plan to pressure the Mexican government to stop the flow of migrants from Central America by imposing a blanket tariff on goods imported into the U.S. risks economic disruption, and political headaches for GOP incumbents on the ballot in 2020.

The national media storm over sexual harassment hit Texas this week, which the legislative leadership attempted to act on even as in other corners, some of the same old internecine fights in the GOP played out in the House and on the terrain of the upcoming 2018 primary elections. Congressman Gene Green’s announcement that he wouldn’t seek reelection added another wrinkle in Houston politics, this one among Democrats who are either jumping in to fight for his seat or waiting to see which #txlege competitors create new openings as a result of others' efforts to move up. Meanwhile, events in Congress provided lots of reasons why so many people don’t want to work there anymore, and some are even policy related, like the effort to combine repealing the ACA insurance mandate with the Tax Reform bill.

Speaker of the House Joe Straus continued his efforts to shift his party’s agenda into the realm of economic development and to re-engage the business sector. Meanwhile, over at the White House, apparently tired of Congress’s inability act on the ACA, Donald Trump used executive power to launch a frontal assault on Obamacare this week, with extremely uncertain political and policy results to come. Texas Governor Greg Abbott also expressed some very public frustration with Congress, who as a group had a pretty tough week even as they uncharacteristically tried to do their jobs by moving another disaster relief bill, which was passed by the House. One of those members, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, outraised his expected Democratic opponent, though also got word that he may have a primary challenger. And lest you think Congress deserves some sympathy, their response to the Las Vegas shooting devolved into the usual puddle of avoidance and utter predictability from all involved.

Oil may be struggling to stay above $30 a barrel, but the Comptroller made multiple public appearances this week urging the political and business communities not to worry. We’ll see how that looks in January 2017. Speaking of not worrying, the Dallas City council is floating the idea of moving to a cite-and-release approach to possession of less than four (!) ounces of marijuana. Lest you think Texas is going completely in the direction of personal freedom, the Attorney General cried foul over fantasy sports betting, reminding everyone that key sectors of the Republican base are still very uptight about gambling...