Blog Posts

James Henson talks with Jonathan Blitzer about the threads he pulled together in his profile of Texas Governor Greg Abbott for the March 17 issue of The New Yorker.

James Henson talks with veteran political reporter Gromer Jeffers, Jr., about his recent reporting on national Democrats' struggles after the 2024 election, and Texas Democrats position in the state House of Representatives.

The February University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll illustrated, not for the first time, that the latest battle in Texas Republican leaders’ forever war on property taxes is fueled in part by many voters’ views that those taxes have a burdensome effect on their finances – and that lawmakers’ past efforts have done little to relieve those burdens.

Daron Shaw, Josh Blank, and James Henson discuss news highs for Donald Trump amidst persistent economic concerns along with other new findings from the just-released February 2025 University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll.

A new University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll finds Texas voters broadly aligned with the overall agenda outlined by the governor, legislative leaders, and lawmakers, though there are stark, if familiar, differences between Republicans and Democrats over which issues lawmakers should prioritize in the ongoing legislative session.

James Henson talks with Greg Cox about his recently launched Texas politics newsletter, and the state of play in the legislature, where he finds people generally getting along better after the heated 2023-2024 sequence in Texas.

The plurality of renters, 42%, said that property taxes had no impact on their finances. But renters don’t appear to be completely oblivious about the impact of property taxes on housing costs: a majority, 58%, said that property taxes had either a major impact on their finances (34%), or at least a minor impact (24%). Twice as many homeowners as renters, 68%, said property taxes had a major impact on their finances, with only 10% feeling no impact at all.

Jim Henson and Joshua Blank talk about how politics are shaping up as the House makes committee assignments and the current Big Three position themselves as the session shifts into a higher gear.

UT/TxPP polling suggests that while Kennedy himself has achieved a degree of favorable reviews among a non-trivial share of Texas voters (though a declining share over time), views of the safety and efficacy of vaccines remain significantly less widespread than the mainstreaming of RFK, Jr. as a public figure might suggest.

Jim Henson and Josh Blank talk about how to think about how national politics shape politics in Texas, and consider the feedback loops at work in sorting out the reciprocal effects of Texas and national politics.