Amidst all the arguments about the second Trump administration’s economic and trade policy, and the claims and counterclaims about their consequences, public opinion polling in Texas makes one thing very clear: Texas voters remain deeply concerned about the prices they are paying for most anything that matters.

The February 2025 University of Texas / Texas Politics Project Poll tapped into the economic anxieties simmering not far beneath the surface, revealing that Texans across the demographic and political spectrum are deeply concerned about fundamental economic issues that impact their daily lives. The high prices of food and consumer goods, the ever-present burden of healthcare costs, the availability of economically accessible housing, and (to a lesser but still noticeable degree) the volatility of fuel prices have emerged as dominant worries, suggesting a pervasive sense of economic pressure felt by most Texas voters.

Perhaps the most striking finding is the overwhelming concern surrounding the cost of food and everyday necessities. A significant 73% of all respondents reported being “very concerned” about the price of food and consumer goods generally.

These concerns crossparty lines, with 75% of Democrats, 72% of Republicans, and 69% of Independents sharing this high level of worry. This widespread anxiety underscores the tangible impact of inflation on household budgets expressed in state and national polling during the election last year.  

The attitudes expressed in the context of questions about economic concerns align with voters' priorities for the Texas legislature: An even higher share, 81%, said it was “extremely” (51%) or very (30%) important for the legislature to “lower the cost of everyday goods and services.” 

Healthcare costs also weigh heavily on Texans minds: . A substantial 64% of respondents expressed being “very concerned” in the battery of questions about economic concerns. Again, this concern cuts across political divides, though with more variance in intensity. Democrats show the highest level of worry at 76%, followed by Republicans at 61% and Independents at 60%.

The high level of concern about the cost of housing persists amidst a cooling real estate market in Texas and increased attention to housing affordability in the legislature . Overall, 63% of respondents reported being “very concerned” about this issue. This anxiety is particularly evident in urban areas, where 67% expressed high concern, compared to 63% in suburban and 59% in rural communities. Politically, Democrats (71%) and Independents (69%) show greater levels of intense concern about housing costs compared to Republicans (54%). (This pattern also carries over into views about the legislature acting to "lower the cost of housing.")

The fluctuating prices of gasoline and energy remain a significant source of economic unease for Texans. In car-focused Texas, the cost of fuel directly impacts household finances, even as prices at the pump have remained relatively low in Texas. The poll reveals that 51% of all respondents are “very concerned” about gasoline and energy prices. While concern is high across the board, there isn't a dramatic divergence along party lines on this particular issue.

While the worries about food, healthcare, housing, and fuel are widespread, the intensity and additional economic anxieties differ significantly across political and ideological lines. As previously noted, Democrats show greater concern for healthcare and housing costs compared to Republicans. Conversely, Republicans exhibit stronger worry regarding the federal budget deficit and the national debt.

Digging a little deeper, the poll results also highlight how age influences economic worries. Older Texans (65+) express particularly high concern about the price of food and healthcare, likely reflecting their fixed incomes and greater healthcare needs. Younger Texans (18-29), while equally worried about the cost of food, show heightened concern about the cost of housing and job availability, likely expressions of the challenges of establishing financial security in a climate of rising living costs and growing hints of a softening job market. (It is interesting, however, that Texas voters in the 18-29 age bracket, without access to Medicare and facing high state-set barriers to accessing Medicaid, express the highest level of intense concern about healthcare costs.)

Significant disparities in economic concern by race and ethnicity emerge from the data, too. Black respondents consistently report the highest levels of "very concerned" across multiple categories, including the price of food, healthcare, and job availability. Latino respondents also express particularly strong concern about the cost of food and housing. While White respondents show high concern for the major economic issues, their levels of intense worry tend to be slightly lower than those of Black and Hispanic respondents on issues like food and healthcare, but higher on the national debt.

The high levels of concern surrounding the fundamental costs of living – food, healthcare, housing, and fuel – underscore the economic pressures felt by a significant portion of the Texas population. While the Texas legislature possesses few tools at their disposal to directly address Texans’ persistent concern about prices, the GOP majority finds themselves, much like other Texans, at the mercy of the economic turmoil triggered by the combination of uncertainty and negative expectations triggered by the Trump administration's trade policies. 

The president and his allies have pivoted to a public position that acknowledges the possibility of a “period of transition” and even a recession in the immediate term. Many of Trump’s partisans in Texas seem to have internalized the Trump administration’s arguments that the short term pain will give way to prosperity. The February poll found that 48% of Texas Republicans expect tariffs to result in higher prices, but 67% expect the long-term impact to be positive for the economy. But partisanship exerts a powerful influence over the expectation, with 82% of Democrats and 57% of independents expecting tariffs to hurt the economy in the longer run. 

While it will take time for the durability and long-term impact of Trump’s ongoing disruption of the last century of economic policy to become apparent, the shorter term judgements of most voters are likely to be rooted in their active concerns about the rising costs of living that helped pave the way for Trump’s return. Ironically, there seems a good chance that while Trump’s uncanny ability to evade accountability for his actions may enable him to deflect some of the political costs should the economists and other doubters be correct about the likely impact of his policies on prices, his loyalists at both the national and state level are even more likely to be less able to evade paying the political costs of those policies.