In a new Second Reading Podcast, Jim Henson and Josh Blank sort through the crosscurrents in public opinion and how they are manifest in reviews of legislative action and inaction in the latest UT/Texas Politics Project Poll. See below for the podcast link, links and graphics of some of the results that come up in the discussion, and a post focused on policy and issues published the day the poll results were made public. Many results get discussed in the podcast – to scroll through those results, start with the "Latest Poll" page, which lists links to graphics for most items on the poll.
Different looks at legisative job approval
| category | Total |
|---|---|
| Approve strongly | 6% |
| Approve somewhat | 27% |
| Neither approve nor disapprove | 20% |
| Disapprove somewhat | 19% |
| Disapprove strongly | 21% |
| Don't know | 6% |
| Category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Approve strongly | 5% | 1% | 10% |
| Approve somewhat | 14% | 20% | 42% |
| Neither approve nor disapprove | 15% | 22% | 23% |
| Disapprove somewhat | 23% | 23% | 15% |
| Disapprove strongly | 39% | 22% | 6% |
| Don't know | 5% | 13% | 5% |
| Category | Lean conservative | Somewhat conservative | Extremely conservative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Approve strongly | 2% | 12% | 11% |
| Approve somewhat | 35% | 36% | 45% |
| Neither approve nor disapprove | 18% | 29% | 19% |
| Disapprove somewhat | 26% | 15% | 14% |
| Disapprove strongly | 11% | 4% | 7% |
| Don't know | 8% | 4% | 4% |
Legislature's handling of issues
| category | Total |
|---|---|
| The Texas economy | 42% |
| Election & voting laws | 41% |
| Immigration / border security | 38% |
| Abortion policy | 38% |
| Water supply reliability | 37% |
| Crime / public safety | 36% |
| School safety | 35% |
| Healthcare | 31% |
| K-12 public education | 30% |
| Gun violence | 30% |
| Opioids | 30% |
| Electricity grid reliability | 28% |
| Higher education | 28% |
| Political corruption / ethics | 28% |
| Property taxes | 25% |
| Mental health services | 25% |
| Category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Texas economy | 23% | 32% | 63% |
| Election & voting laws | 20% | 29% | 61% |
| Immigration / border security | 18% | 31% | 62% |
| Abortion policy | 16% | 36% | 63% |
| Water supply reliability | 28% | 28% | 45% |
| Crime / public safety | 21% | 31% | 50% |
| School safety | 21% | 28% | 49% |
| Healthcare | 23% | 21% | 40% |
| K-12 public education | 23% | 19% | 36% |
| Gun violence | 15% | 25% | 47% |
| Opioids | 21% | 14% | 43% |
| Electricity grid reliability | 19% | 20% | 39% |
| Higher education | 22% | 18% | 35% |
| Political corruption / ethics | 20% | 16% | 38% |
| Property taxes | 18% | 18% | 33% |
| Mental health services | 17% | 16% | 32% |
About the Second Reading podcast. The podcast has been produced intermittently 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, Spotify, and Stitcher.