Second Reading Podcast: Texans turn negative in the new UT/Texas Politics Project poll

September 3, 2021
By: 
Texas Politics Project

Jim Henson and Joshua Blank look at the big picture of mood of the state painted in the results of the just-released Texas Politics Project Poll, conducted August 20-30. The point of departure for the discussion: 52% of Texans said the state is on the wrong track, the highest such measure in the Texas Politics Project pollling dataset.  See below for some graphics of data referenced in the podcast. And, of course, there is more where that came from on the "Latest Poll" page and in the summary of results.

The right direction/wrong track assessments in the poll raised a lot of eyebrows on social media.

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PollRight DirectionWrong Track
October 200938%39%
February 201043%37%
May 201045%38%
September 201043%38%
October 201045%37%
February 201141%41%
May 201136%48%
October 201139%43%
February 201243%38%
May 201238%42%
October 201243%34%
February 201345%39%
June 201350%32%
October 201342%39%
February 201445%35%
June 201449%33%
October 201448%35%
February 201550%30%
June 201550%32%
November 201545%36%
February 201642%37%
June 201641%38%
October 201642%40%
February 201746%36%
June 201743%40%
October 201743%40%
February 201848%36%
June 201846%37%
October 201850%35%
February 201949%35%
June 201949%34%
October 201947%35%
February 202049%37%
April 202043%43%
June 202041%47%
October 202041%44%
February 202139%41%
March 202141%46%
April 202142%42%
June 202141%43%
August 202135%52%
October 202140%48%
February 202240%46%
April 202239%51%
June 202231%59%
August 202236%52%
October 202237%50%
December 202239%46%
February 202335%51%
April 202337%50%
June 202338%49%
August 202333%55%
October 202337%50%
December 202338%49%
February 202444%44%
April 202443%45%
June 202441%48%
August 202440%46%

For the same responses broken down by party identification, see our compilation of trend data in the blog section of the Texas Politics Project site.)

The negative overall mood in the state is also reflected in Gov. Greg Abbott's job approval ratings, which were unusually negative in the August poll.

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categoryTotal
Approve strongly19%
Approve somewhat22%
Neither approve nor disapprove7%
Disapprove somewhat9%
Disapprove strongly41%
Don't know2%

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CategoryDemocratIndependentRepublican
Approve strongly3%13%34%
Approve somewhat3%17%39%
Neither approve nor disapprove4%16%8%
Disapprove somewhat7%14%10%
Disapprove strongly83%38%8%
Don't know0%1%2%

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PollApproveDisapproveNeither/Don't Know
November 201542%29%28%
February 201641%29%30%
June 201642%31%27%
October 201642%33%25%
February 201745%33%23%
June 201745%38%16%
October 201748%33%19%
February 201846%31%23%
June 201847%36%18%
October 201852%32%17%
February 201951%32%17%
June 201951%31%18%
October 201952%28%21%
February 202048%34%18%
April 202056%32%13%
June 202049%39%13%
October 202047%40%14%
February 202146%39%15%
March 202145%43%11%
April 202143%45%13%
June 202144%44%11%
August 202141%50%9%
October 202143%48%10%
February 202244%42%15%
April 202247%41%13%
June 202243%46%12%
August 202246%44%10%
October 202247%44%9%
December 202249%41%8%
February 202346%43%12%
April 202346%41%12%
June 202347%42%12%
August 202345%45%10%
October 202349%40%10%
December 202348%41%11%
February 202453%37%10%
April 202455%37%10%
June 202450%39%11%
August 202449%42%9%

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PollApproveDisapproveNeither/Don't Know
November 201539%28%44%
February 201641%30%29%
June 201634%39%27%
October 201631%39%29%
February 201723%48%29%
June 201733%44%24%
October 201745%30%26%
February 201838%20%41%
June 201839%34%26%
October 201841%32%27%
February 201954%23%23%
June 201942%29%30%
October 201943%26%31%
February 202038%30%31%
April 202034%41%25%
June 202041%36%23%
October 202033%39%29%
February 202133%33%34%
March 202134%36%30%
April 202134%37%28%
June 202141%44%15%
August 202130%52%18%
October 202127%57%16%
February 202242%43%16%
April 202233%41%26%
June 202227%55%19%
August 202237%43%19%
October 202240%48%12%
December 202245%39%16%
February 202338%46%15%
April 202325%54%21%
June 202339%40%21%
August 202331%53%15%
October 202334%53%13%
December 202334%51%15%
February 202436%50%14%
April 202435%46%19%
June 202429%48%23%
August 202432%54%14%

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PollApproveDisapproveNeither/Don't Know
November 201570%8%23%
February 201669%8%23%
June 201673%7%21%
October 201675%5%21%
February 201780%5%15%
June 201783%8%10%
October 201779%5%14%
February 201881%5%14%
June 201880%7%14%
October 201889%4%8%
February 201983%6%10%
June 201984%4%12%
October 201979%6%15%
February 202084%8%12%
April 202088%6%7%
June 202083%7%9%
October 202081%13%7%
February 202179%10%11%
March 202179%13%8%
April 202177%13%10%
June 202177%12%11%
August 202173%18%9%
October 202179%15%6%
February 202274%14%12%
April 202280%10%11%
June 202278%11%12%
August 202280%12%8%
October 202286%8%6%
December 202287%6%8%
February 202383%7%10%
April 202379%9%12%
June 202381%10%8%
August 202381%11%8%
October 202379%10%11%
December 202378%10%12%
February 202483%8%10%
April 202485%8%8%
June 202482%8%10%
August 202480%9%10%

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Keywords: covid-19, voting/elections, greg abbott