Matters of intense partisan contention at the state and federal level – LGBTQ rights, voting rights, the President’s travel ban, and abortion – are getting attention from various levels of the judicial branch this week, including arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court h on Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Our polling in Texas has yielded a lot of data on the issues at hand that might be useful in thinking about how they made it onto the public agenda in the first place, how specific politics and laws that are now being contested in the courts came to be, and how actions taken by the courts will be interpreted by the broader public here in Texas.
To jump to a particular topic, click the links below:
Voter ID
Gay Marriage
Travel Ban
Abortion
In the October 2017 UT/TT poll, we asked Texas voters how much they’ve heard about recent cases finding discrimination in Texas’ election system, and whether or not they personally believe that Texas’ election system discriminates against racial and ethnic minorities. More specific to Texas’ case, in the June 2017 UT/TT poll, we asked whether voters should be penalized for failing to show a proper form of ID while voting when they could have, and if so, what type of penalty those voters should face. Finally, going back to February 2014, we can see the broad favorability Texas voters held towards the state’s voter ID law, driven overwhelmingly by Republican voters.
| category | Total |
|---|---|
| A lot | 20% |
| Some | 36% |
| Not very much | 25% |
| Nothing at all | 19% |
| category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| A lot | 26% | 22% | 15% |
| Some | 35% | 38% | 36% |
| Not very much | 25% | 22% | 27% |
| Nothing at all | 14% | 18% | 23% |
| category | White | Black | Hispanic |
|---|---|---|---|
| A lot | 20% | 24% | 15% |
| Some | 38% | 28% | 36% |
| Not very much | 23% | 35% | 26% |
| Nothing at all | 20% | 13% | 23% |
| category | Total |
|---|---|
| Yes | 38% |
| No | 47% |
| Don't know/no opinion | 15% |
| category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | 73% | 25% | 10% |
| No | 11% | 55% | 78% |
| Don't know/no opinion | 16% | 20% | 12% |
| category | Total |
|---|---|
| Should penalize that voter | 40% |
| Should not penalize that voter | 38% |
| Don't know | 22% |
| category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Should penalize that voter | 18% | 46% | 60% |
| Should not penalize that voter | 58% | 30% | 21% |
| Don't know | 24% | 24% | 19% |
| category | White | Black | Hispanic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Should penalize that voter | 44% | 33% | 34% |
| Should not penalize that voter | 36% | 37% | 45% |
| Don't know | 20% | 30% | 22% |
| category | Total |
|---|---|
| A fine, like a traffic ticket | 62% |
| A jail term of no more than 2 years | 11% |
| A jail term of no more than 10 years | 7% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 20% |
| category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| A fine, like a traffic ticket | 66% | 75% | 61% |
| A jail term of no more than 2 years | 7% | 1% | 13% |
| A jail term of no more than 10 years | 7% | 12% | 5% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 19% | 12% | 21% |
| category | White | Black | Hispanic |
|---|---|---|---|
| A fine, like a traffic ticket | 61% | 71% | 63% |
| A jail term of no more than 2 years | 12% | 4% | 14% |
| A jail term of no more than 10 years | 5% | 12% | 8% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 21% | 13% | 15% |
| category | column-1 |
|---|---|
| Very favorable | 51% |
| Somewhat favorable | 15% |
| Neither favorable nor unfavorable | 9% |
| Somewhat unfavorable | 6% |
| Very unfavorable | 16% |
| Don't know / No Opinion | 3% |
| category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very favorable | 23% | 44% | 78% |
| Somewhat favorable | 18% | 26% | 12% |
| Neither favorable nor unfavorable | 12% | 8% | 5% |
| Somewhat unfavorable | 11% | 8% | 2% |
| Very unfavorable | 33% | 13% | 2% |
| Don't know / No Opinion | 3% | 2% | 1% |
Broadly, Texans have become more accepting of gay marriage, as polling from June 2017 contrasted with polling from November 2015 illustrates. With respect to the rights of businesses to refuse services to gays and lesbians, the UT/TT poll asked in June 2015 whether, “businesses should be allowed to refuse services to gays and lesbians for religious reasons" or whether they should be required to so so. More broadly, in June 2017, we asked Texas voters whether they agree or disagree with the following statement: “a sincerely held religious belief is a legitimate reason to exempt someone from laws designed to prevent discrimination.”
| category | Total |
|---|---|
| Gays and lesbians should have the right to marry | 55% |
| Gays and lesbians should not have the right to marry | 32% |
| Don't know | 13% |
| category | column-1 |
|---|---|
| Gays and lesbians should have the right to marry | 43% |
| Gays and lesbians should not have the right to marry | 43% |
| Don't know | 14% |
| category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gays and lesbians should have the right to marry | 77% | 58% | 32% |
| Gays and lesbians should not have the right to marry | 15% | 20% | 52% |
| Don't know | 8% | 22% | 16% |
| category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gays and lesbians should have the right to marry | 65% | 46% | 24% |
| Gays and lesbians should not have the right to marry | 26% | 35% | 59% |
| Don't know | 9% | 19% | 17% |
| category | column-1 |
|---|---|
| Should be allowed to refuse services | 41% |
| Should be required to provide services | 45% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 14% |
| category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Should be allowed to refuse services | 14% | 36% | 64% |
| Should be required to provide services | 73% | 46% | 23% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 13% | 19% | 13% |
| category | Total |
|---|---|
| Agree | 30% |
| Disagree | 51% |
| Don't know/no opinion | 19% |
| category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agree | 14% | 26% | 45% |
| Disagree | 68% | 48% | 34% |
| Don't know/no opinion | 18% | 26% | 20% |
In the February 2017 UT/TT poll, reflecting the proposal at that point in time, we asked Texas voters whether or not they supported, “temporarily blocking entry into the U.S. for individuals traveling from Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Iran, Iraq, and Yemen?” Going back to the 2016 campaign, we asked Texans whether they supported or opposed, “banning Muslims who are not U.S. citizens from entering the United States?” In another poll, we asked Texans how much discrimination they thought Muslims in the U.S. experienced, and which of a number of groups experienced the most discrimination. Muslims were the top responses, but followed closely by Christians – reflecting significant partisan structure in the results.
| category | column-1 |
|---|---|
| Strongly support | 40% |
| Somewhat support | 16% |
| Somewhat oppose | 13% |
| Strongly oppose | 25% |
| Don't know | 6% |
| category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strongly support | 9% | 27% | 72% |
| Somewhat support | 13% | 31% | 16% |
| Somewhat oppose | 21% | 20% | 5% |
| Strongly oppose | 49% | 14% | 5% |
| Don't know | 8% | 8% | 2% |
| category | column-1 |
|---|---|
| Strongly support | 26% |
| Somewhat support | 20% |
| Somewhat oppose | 19% |
| Strongly oppose | 22% |
| Don't know | 13% |
| category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strongly support | 14% | 34% | 37% |
| Somewhat support | 15% | 19% | 25% |
| Somewhat oppose | 23% | 19% | 16% |
| Strongly oppose | 35% | 12% | 12% |
| Don't know | 14% | 16% | 9% |
| category | column-1 |
|---|---|
| Muslims | 23% |
| Christians | 21% |
| African Americans | 14% |
| Transgender people | 12% |
| Gays and lesbians | 11% |
| Whites | 9% |
| Hispanics | 6% |
| Women | 3% |
| Men | 2% |
| Asians | 0% |
| category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muslims | 27% | 26% | 17% |
| Christians | 4% | 14% | 40% |
| African Americans | 22% | 18% | 6% |
| Transgender people | 17% | 11% | 9% |
| Gays and lesbians | 16% | 7% | 7% |
| Whites | 1% | 11% | 13% |
| Hispanics | 8% | 5% | 4% |
| Women | 4% | 4% | 2% |
| Men | 0% | 4% | 2% |
| Asians | 0% | 0% | 0% |
The UT/TT poll has repeatedly asked a standard item intended to assess abortion attitudes in the state, most recently in February 2017.
| category | column-1 |
|---|---|
| By law, abortion should never be permitted. | 17% |
| The law should permit abortion only in case of rape, incest or when the woman's life is in danger. | 26% |
| The law should permit abortion for other reasons, but only after the need for the abortion has been clearly established. | 15% |
| By law, a woman should always be able to obtain an abortion as a matter of personal choice. | 38% |
| Don't know | 5% |
| category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| By law, abortion should never be permitted. | 12% | 8% | 22% |
| The law should permit abortion only in case of rape, incest or when the woman's life is in danger. | 14% | 28% | 38% |
| The law should permit abortion for other reasons, but only after the need for the abortion has been clearly established. | 11% | 10% | 19% |
| By law, a woman should always be able to obtain an abortion as a matter of personal choice. | 57% | 45% | 19% |
| Don't know | 6% | 8% | 2% |