Second Reading Podcast: New UT/TxPP Poll offers glimpse of the emerging 2026 election environment in Texas

James Henson talks with Daron Shaw and Joshua Blank as The Texas Politics Project Poll team convenes to discuss what their latest poll tells us about the current Texas landscape for the 2026 election, including discussion of the economy and the ongoing evolution of U.S. Senate race in both parties. Trigger warning: the M word is used.

References in the podcast

(See the rollout post for the poll published October 29 for links to the summary doc and cross tabs, and more graphics of results that came up in the podcast.)

	Favorability Ratings (October 2025 University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll)
	Overall			Republicans			Strong Republicans			Conservatives
	Favorable	Unfavorable	Don't know	Favorable	Unfavorable	Don't know	Favorable	Unfavorable	Don't know	Favorable	Unfavorable	Don't know
John Cornyn	24	46	30	43	24	33	54	19	28	40	26	34
Ken Paxton	28	44	27	55	16	28	67	10	23	54	19	26
Wesley Hunt	16	18	66	29	9	63	31	8	62	27	9	64

 

	Favorability Ratings (October 2025 University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll)
	Overall			Democrats			Strong Democrats			Liberals
	Favorable	Unfavorable	Don't know	Favorable	Unfavorable	Don't know	Favorable	Unfavorable	Don't know	Favorable	Unfavorable	Don't know
Colin Allred	32	32	35	59	10	31	69	7	24	69	13	29
James Talarico	22	12	65	43	5	52	49	4	48	46	7	47
Terry Virts	7	10	83	9	8	83	13	7	80	11	8	80
Jasmine Crockett	30	32	38	62	6	33	70	5	25	67	7	26