As the Texas Democratic Party holds their state convention in Corpus Christi this weekend, review public opinion data from the Texas Politics Project polling archive to provide some context for the gathering.
James Henson and Joshua Blank look at 2026 Texas trial ballots and the strikingly negative views of data centers and AI in the June Texas Politics Project Poll.
The latest University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll finds a very tight race in the election for the U.S. Senate, Texas voters largely opposed to building data centers in their communities, and continuing concern about prices and the economy.
Respondents were asked, "If the 2026 U.S. senate election in Texas were held today, and the candidates were the Republican Ken Paxton, the Democrat James Talarico, and the Libertarian Ted Brown, who would you vote for, or haven’t you thought enough about it to have an opinion?"
Respondents were asked, "Please tell us whether you have a very favorable, somewhat favorable, neither favorable nor unfavorable, somewhat unfavorable, or very unfavorable opinion of each of the following: James Talarico."
How similar is the 2026 election environment in Texas to 2018, the last statewide election in which Democrats were able to gain meaningful ground on Texas Republicans’ control of the Texas Legislature, and came within striking distance of winning some statewide races? The Texas Politics Project's deep archive of public opinion data allows us to make useful comparisons of public attitudes toward candidates and conditions in 2018 and 2026.
After a week in which Texas Republicans circled the wagons for legislative elections and national Democrats announced #txlege targets, James Henson and Joshua Blank look at the landscape for legislative races, and compare differences and similarities in public opinion in 2018 and 2026.
In the wake of run-off wins by GOP candidates like Ken Paxton, Mayes Middleton, and Bo French, James Henson and Joshua Blank talk about dynamics in both parties, and what’s comes next in the general election and in governing circles in Texas.
The main takeaway from hypothetical head-to-heads in the U.S. Senate race in Texas isn’t that Talarico is “ahead” – it’s that voter mobilization may be the main challenge to Republican success in the 2026 general election.
James Henson and Joshua Blank look at highlights from the just-released UT/Texas Politics Project poll, including resurgent concerns about prices and the economy, the sharp partisan differences fueling overall opposition to the U.S. war with Iran, and some interesting underlying numbers in the U.S. Senate race and the Cornyn/Paxton/Talarico triangle
