A quick primary election day look at Texas Democrats' and Republicans' ideological assessments of their elected officials

With at least some Texans going to the polls to vote in primary elections, it's a good time to take a look at the ideological orientation of Texas partisans. In a piece in the Texas Tribune yesterday, we looked at the ideological dispositions of Texas Democrats in the context of the Democratic presidential nominating contest. That exercise informed (some of) the selection of the particular data snapshots presented below (like the perhaps suprising results from Democrats by location and age). But with the related processes of ideological sorting and increased polarization taking place in Texas (as in much of the rest of the US) and a number of contested primary races in Congressional and state legislative seats taking place, it's worth revisiting the state of ideological play in both parties – particularly given that judgements about the liberalism of Democratic voters and the conservatism of Repulican voters in the state will be part of the unfolding punditry and post-election analysis over the next 48 hours. 

The graphics below present different looks at the responses in the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll to two recurring questions we ask of partisans.

"Overall, do you think that Democratic elected officials in Texas are liberal enough, too liberal, or not liberal enough?"

and

"Overall, do you think that Republican elected officials in Texas are conservative enough, too conservative, or not conservative enough?"

We may add more observations, time permitting, as Election Day unfolds. But for now, here are the snapshots, followed by graphics with trends in ideological identification for Democrats and Republicans for macrolevel context. 

Below are trend data in response to our standard 7-point ideological identification question.  Note that leaners are folded in with the party they lean toward in each partisan category.  (That is, respondents who initially identify as independent, but then indicate that they lean toward one party or the other, are included in the category of their partisan inclination. This leave a total of 9% independent.)