The Presidents Come to the Texas Border
National and state politics converge this week with the simultaneous visits of President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump to the Texas-Mexico border on Thursday. Trump will appear in Eagle Pass, the site of ongoing tension between state and federal law enforcement agencies deployed to manage the increased flow of migrants into the U.S., while Biden will visit Brownsville.
The visits come as Biden continues to seek ways to reduce his vulnerability on border and immigration issues amidst the ongoing problems on the border, and as Trump presses his advantage, and his attacks on Biden and Democrats, on his signature issue. While the current and former presidents maneuver in Texas, the demands of Republican officials over federal border enforcement policies continue to be one of the central obstacles in the stalled federal budget process casting the shadow of a looming shutdown. (After meetings at the White House Tuesday on breaking the impasse on the budget and on foreign aid spending, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson reiterated to reporters that “the first priority of the country is our border and making sure it's secure.")
In the 2020 presidential election, Trump defeated Biden in Texas by about 630,000 votes, with 52.06% of the vote to Biden’s 46.48%. This was a smaller victory margin than 2016, when Trump won Texas’ electoral votes by defeating Hillary Clinton by just under 9 percentage points, (52.23% to 43.24%, about 806,000 votes). In a head-to-head trial ballot in the latest UT/Texas Politics Project Poll, Trump led Biden by 7 points, 48% to 41%. (Trump led by 9 points in a multicandidate trial ballot.)
We’ve gathered very recent polling results from our latest poll, conducted in early February, to provide context for Texans’ views of Biden and Trump, and of immigration and border policies. Click on the list below to jump to a look at Texas attitudes, including breakdowns by party, race and ethnicity, and geography. The blog section also contains several posts discussing immigration and border security issues in the context of state and national politics, and attitudes on the border and immigration were the focus of the latest Second Reading podcast.
- Importance of immigration and border security to Texas voters
- Joe Biden and Donald Trump favorability ratings among Texas voters
- Biden job approval ratings, immigration and border security job approval
- Greg Abbott job approval ratings, immigration and border security job approval
- Immigration attitudes (asylum, legal immigration, immediate deportation of undocumented immigrants)
- Support/opposition for state policies dealing with immigration
Importance of Immigration and Border Security to Texas Voters
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Joe Biden and Donald Trump Favorability Ratings among Texas Voters
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Biden Job Approval Ratings, Immigration and Border Security Job Approval
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Greg Abbott Job Approval Ratings, Immigration and Border Security Job Approval
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Immigration Attitudes (Asylum, Legal Immigration, Immediate Deportation of Undocumented Immigrants)
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Support/Opposition for State Policies Dealing with Immigration
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