Jim Henson and Joshua Blank review Texas attitudes on the issues being promoted to attempted comparative advantage by the presidential and U.S. Senate campaigns in Texas: immigration & the border, abortion, and transgender rights.
Podcast references
A post from earlier this week: "Focusing on the track, not just the horses, as the 2024 race enters the final stretch in Texas."
Issue salience
| category | Total |
|---|---|
| The economy | 18% |
| Immigration / Border security | 16% |
| Inflation / Cost of living | 11% |
| Democracy | 7% |
| Abortion / Women’s rights | 7% |
| Keeping Trump out of the White House | 4% |
| Election integrity / Election fraud | 3% |
| Candidate traits | 3% |
| Category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| The economy | 11% | 13% | 25% |
| Immigration / Border security | 1% | 12% | 29% |
| Inflation / Cost of living | 11% | 10% | 11% |
| Democracy | 14% | 1% | 2% |
| Abortion / Women’s rights | 13% | 8% | 1% |
| Keeping Trump out of the White House | 8% | 4% | 0% |
| Election integrity / Election fraud | 2% | 1% | 4% |
| Candidate traits | 4% | 1% | 3% |
| category | Total |
|---|---|
| Immigration | 17% |
| Inflation/ rising prices | 14% |
| Border security | 14% |
| Political corruption/ leadership | 9% |
| The economy | 7% |
| Abortion | 6% |
| Gun control/ gun violence | 4% |
| Health care | 3% |
| Environment/ climate change | 3% |
| Energy/ The grid | 3% |
| Category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Immigration | 4% | 18% | 28% |
| Inflation/ rising prices | 12% | 21% | 14% |
| Border security | 3% | 9% | 25% |
| Political corruption/ leadership | 19% | 10% | 1% |
| The economy | 5% | 6% | 7% |
| Abortion | 11% | 7% | 2% |
| Gun control/ gun violence | 7% | 2% | 1% |
| Health care | 4% | 3% | 1% |
| Environment/ climate change | 4% | 9% | 1% |
| Energy/ The grid | 5% | 1% | 2% |
Immigration
| Democrat | Overall | Republican | |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 2014 | 32% | 54% | 74% |
| Oct. 2014 | 37% | 60% | 80% |
| Feb. 2015 | 35% | 59% | 80% |
| Nov. 2015 | 31% | 55% | 74% |
| Feb. 2016 | 36% | 53% | 74% |
| June 2016 | 25% | 51% | 72% |
| Oct. 2016 | 21% | 47% | 70% |
| Oct. 2017 | 20% | 44% | 64% |
| Feb. 2018 | 17% | 45% | 70% |
| Oct. 2018 | 23% | 54% | 81% |
| Oct. 2019 | 24% | 50% | 76% |
| Feb. 2020 | 20% | 47% | 77% |
| Apr. 2020 | 18% | 49% | 75% |
| Feb. 2021 | 15% | 45% | 72% |
| Apr. 2022 | 23% | 54% | 82% |
| Aug. 2022 | 20% | 51% | 79% |
| Aug. 2023 | 27% | 54% | 83% |
| Feb. 2024 | 35% | 58% | 80% |
| June 2024 | 27% | 57% | 85% |
| Oct. 2024 | 31% | 58% | 85% |
"Thinking about legal immigration, do you think the United States allows too many people to immigrate here from other countries, too few, or about the right amount?"
| category | Total |
|---|---|
| Too many | 48% |
| About the right amount | 28% |
| Too few | 11% |
| Don’t know/No opinion | 13% |
| Category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Too many | 26% | 50% | 67% |
| About the right amount | 41% | 17% | 19% |
| Too few | 14% | 20% | 6% |
| Don’t know/No opinion | 19% | 12% | 8% |
Abortion
The graphics below are compiled using the results from a set of questions used repeated on several UT/Texas Politics Project polls assessing Texans' views of under what conditions, and at what stage in a pregnancy, abortion should be permitted. You can browse the results and cross tabs for major groups using a pre-loaded result in our search tool.
| category | Total |
|---|---|
| The woman’s health is seriously endangered. | 82% |
| The woman became pregnant as a result of rape. | 78% |
| The woman became pregnant as a result of incest. | 76% |
| There is a strong chance of a serious birth defect. | 73% |
| The family has very low income and cannot afford any more children. | 56% |
| The woman is not married and does not want to marry. | 55% |
| The woman is married and does not want any more children. | 55% |
| Category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| The woman’s health is seriously endangered. | 92% | 80% | 74% |
| The woman became pregnant as a result of rape. | 91% | 80% | 68% |
| The woman became pregnant as a result of incest. | 89% | 81% | 67% |
| There is a strong chance of a serious birth defect. | 87% | 76% | 63% |
| The family has very low income and cannot afford any more children. | 77% | 61% | 42% |
| The woman is not married and does not want to marry. | 74% | 61% | 39% |
| The woman is married and does not want any more children. | 75% | 63% | 38% |
Transgender issues
| category | Total |
|---|---|
| Yes | 63% |
| No | 25% |
| Unsure | 12% |
| Category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | 33% | 60% | 89% |
| No | 49% | 15% | 5% |
| Unsure | 17% | 26% | 5% |
| Category | Lean Democrat | Not very strong Democrat | Strong Democrat |
|---|---|---|---|
| African Americans | 24% | 45% | 39% |
| Transgender people | 46% | 27% | 35% |
| Christians | 0% | 4% | 1% |
| Whites | 1% | 1% | 2% |
| Gays and Lesbians | 7% | 10% | 6% |
| Muslims | 4% | 1% | 3% |
| Women | 14% | 8% | 4% |
| Hispanics | 3% | 4% | 6% |
| Men | 1% | 0% | 1% |
| Asians | 1% | 0% | 2% |
| Category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| A lot of discrimination | 67% | 32% | 12% |
| Some | 20% | 28% | 30% |
| Not very much | 7% | 12% | 31% |
| None at all | 3% | 17% | 21% |
| Don't know/no opinion | 3% | 12% | 6% |
About the Second Reading podcast. The podcast has been produced by Jim Henson for the Texas Politics Project, with production support from UT's Liberal Arts Development Studio, since 2016. You can find past episodes and subscribe to the Second Reading podcast in Apple Podcasts and Spotify.