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In an election year marked by economic disruption, the unprecedented direction of state resources and public attention to the Texas-Mexico border, and signs of moving on from the fight against COVID-19, Texans’ legendary bullishness about the future of the state has turned bearish, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll. Amidst increasing economic worries, the population growth that has become a frequent bragging point for political leaders and boosters is now viewed negatively or with uncertainty by a majority of Texas voters. Among the large majority of Texans who reported being aware of the state’s significant population growth in recent years, only 34% viewed that growth as good for Texas, while 40% said that it has been bad for the state and more than a quarter of Texas voters offered no opinion — positive or negative. The share viewing the impact of population growth positively was the lowest from among four results going back to June 2019, and the first time that those viewing the state’s growth negatively outnumbered those viewing it positively. These pessimistic views of the state’s population growth accompany other gloomy assessments: 43% say that their family’s economic situation is worse compared to last year (the most Texans saying this in 42 surveys going back to 2009), while among the nearly 9 in 10 voters who have noticed rising prices, 55% say that those price increases have had a major impact on their current household finances. All of these factors converge in the finding that 51% of Texans say the state is on the wrong track, and 66% say that the country is headed in the same, wrong direction. Broad economic concerns notwithstanding, the border security and immigration issues receiving ever-increasing amounts of attention and resources from the state’s Republican leadership continue to loom large on the public opinion landscape. Texans continue to view immigration and border security as the state’s top priority (20% border security; 14% immigration), driven primarily by the views of Republican voters – among whom 37% choose border security and 24% choose immigration as the most important problem facing the state. As the state spends approximately $4 billion on border security in this biennium, a massive increase over previous border security spending, the survey finds Texans split on these expenditures. The plurality, 32%, say the state spends too little (again driven by Republicans, among whom 51% say the state is still spending too little), 30% saying the state spends too much, and 20% who say the state is spending the right amount on border security. The poll also included extensive questioning about a range of policy subjects including COVID-19, abortion, public safety, K-12 education, discrimination, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as the standard assessments of political leaders and some early views of the 2022 election in Texas. A few highlights are provided immediately below, followed by a more extensive list of interesting findings, sorted by subject area. As always, you can find all results from the poll, with graphics for an extensive list of crosstabs, on the Texas Politics Project Latest Poll page.
The poll was conducted April 14-22, 2022 among 1,200 registered voters in Texas, and has a margin of error of +/- 2.83%. Data was collected over the internet by YouGov. More methodological information can be found in the poll summary document (p. 38) or in the Texas Politics Project Data Archive. Follow the links below to jump to a topic area: Views of Texas and the economy Views of Texas and the economy
Immigration and border security
U.S. policy in Ukraine and refugees As the U.S. plays a leading role in the Western allies’ response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the poll explored Texans’ attitudes toward U.S. policy, including views of the use of U.S. troops.
Perceptions of discrimination against social groups For the third time since 2018, the April UT/Texas Politics Project Poll included an extensive set of questions exploring Texans’ perceptions of the amount of discrimination currently experienced by different groups in the United States.
More public policy results Abortion. With the U.S. Supreme Court expected to issue a landmark ruling related to the abortion rights established in Roe v. Wade, the poll found little change in the existing pattern of responses to the question: “Do you support or oppose automatically banning all abortions in Texas if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade?” Among all registered voters, 35% supported such a ban, 21% strongly; 54% opposed it, 42% strongly. A large majority of Democrats, 80%, opposed banning access to abortion in Texas, with 73% strongly opposed. Republican opinion is less lopsided: 57% support a complete ban should Roe be overturned, 37% strongly, while 34% oppose banning all access to abortion, 17% strongly. Independents as a group again fall between Democrats and Republicans on the abortion issue, but hold opinions more in line with Democrats than Republicans: 26% would support a post-Roe ban, but a sizable majority, 57%, would oppose it. In 2021, the Texas Legislature passed a so-called “trigger law” that would make abortion illegal upon the issuance of a United States Supreme Court judgment overruling, wholly or partly, Roe v. Wade.
Public education. Results to questions asked in response to rhetoric and policy emphasized largely by Republican elected officials and activists in the public discussion of K-12 education reveal the emerging partisan polarization on two emerging issue frames: parental influence on classroom teaching content, and increased monitoring of material in public school libraries. The newness of the recent framing of these issues and the limited availability of polling data invite caution about drawing conclusions about trends in public opinion on issues that are still only just beginning to activate public consciousness — and for which we have a limited number of measurements.
Crime and public safety. Asked about the extent to which crime is a problem in the area they live, 16% of Texans said that crime was a major problem, 58% said it was a minor problem, and nearly a quarter, 23%, said it was not a problem at all. There were no meaningful differences along partisan lines, though White Texans were less likely to see crime as a major problem (13%) than were Black (21%) or Hispanic (20%) Texans. Asked how safe they feel in the area where they live, 36% reported feeling “very safe” 51% reported feeling “somewhat safe,” leaving only 8% feeling “somewhat unsafe” and 3% feeling “very unsafe.”
COVID-19 A battery of questions on Texans’ attitudes and behaviors related to COVID-19 revealed a sharp decline in Texans’ overall concern about the pandemic, though partisan and racial differences in concern about the virus and accommodations made in response to it persist among this overall decline in urgency.
An exception to this decline in worry about the coronavirus is evident when concerns are directed to people from foreign countries potentially bringing COVID-19 into Texas, an issue intertwined with the powerful public opinion currents related to immigration and border security present in several other survey results.
The April 2022 UT/Texas Politics Project Poll is the tenth consecutive poll with a battery of questions related to COVID-19 beginning in April 2020 near the onset of the pandemic. See our updated COVID-19 trends page for highlights of trends in responses, including many results broken down by relevant subgroups such as party and race/ethnicity. 2022 election Head-to-head Texas governor match-up: Greg Abbott led Beto O’Rourke 48%-37% among the poll’s sample of registered voters, with 16% uncommitted (7% opted for an unspecified “someone else,” 9% saying they “haven’t thought about it enough to have an opinion.) Partisan preferences were predictably lopsided, with each candidate earning more than 80% of their partisans’ support. Among independents, Abbott led O’Rourke 40%-26%, with about one third (35%) uncommitted. Abbott led among White Texans 60%-29%; O’Rourke led among Hispanics 45%-36% and among Black Texans 62%-13%.
Abbott & O’Rourke favorability ratings: Abbott was viewed favorably by 46% of Texas voters and unfavorably by 40% (33% very unfavorable). Among his fellow Republicans, 80% viewed him favorably (43% very favorably); among the 10% who view him unfavorably, only 4% view him very unfavorably). Beto O’Rourke was viewed favorably by 36% of Texas voters and unfavorably by 43%. Among Democrats, 81% viewed him favorably with only 6% viewing him unfavorably. O’Rourke is underwater among independents, with 20% viewing him favorably and a majority, 52%, viewing him unfavorably (45% very unfavorable). Generic ballots U.S. Congress: Republican candidate 48%, Democratic candidate 39% Other candidate favorability ratings Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick: 35% favorable, 35% unfavorable. Job approval ratings President Joe Biden. Asked to rate President Biden’s overall job performance, 37% approved and 54% disapproved. Among partisans, views of the president continued to be polarized: 79% of Democrats approve while 13% disapprove, with a paltry 6% of Republicans approving of Biden’s job performance in contrast to 87% disapproving – 80% strongly. Independents are leaning heavily negative: 18% approve, and 61% disapprove – 45% strongly. Biden’s issue area ratings. Biden remains underwater on each of the eight issue areas where the poll sought issue-specific job assessments, including his handling of COVID, transportation, the economy, voting and elections, foreign policy, climate change, crime and public safety, the economy, and immigration and border security. Biden’s best numbers continued to come in response to his handling of the COVID pandemic, but even here, he only finds 37% of Texans approving against 48% disapproving. His worst ratings came in response to his handling of immigration and border security, where 57% of Texas voters registered disapproval compared to only 25% approving, identical to his ratings in the February UT/Texas Politics Project Poll. As the economy rises in salience as a national and a state problem, Biden’s numbers are anemic on economic issues, too: Only 28% approve of his handling of the economy (his second lowest rating), while 57% currently disapprove.
Gov. Greg Abbott. In the first UT/Texas Politics Project poll since he won the contested March GOP gubernatorial primary by a wide margin, Gov. Abbott’s job approval rating was his highest since October 2020: 47% approved of the job he’s doing while 41% disapprove. The share of Texas Republicans granting approval increased to 80% from 74% in February, while the balance of approval/disapproval among independents slid from evenly divided in February (42%/43%) to net-negative territory in April (33%/41%). Among Texans in the suburbs, many of the most hotly contested areas of the state, 47% approved and 41% disapproved in April.
Abbott’s issue area ratings. Of the eight issue areas in which we asked Texas voters to rate Greg Abbott’s job performance (the economy, crime and public safety, immigration and border security, voting and elections, the coronavirus, public education, and the electric grid), the governor receives neither majority approval nor majority disapproval on any single issue. Texans rate him most highly on immigration and border security: 47% approve and 41% disapprove of his handling of this issue cluster — still topping Texans’ assessments (especially Republican assessments) of the most important problems facing the state. He is in net-positive territory on his handling of the economy (43% approve/36% disapprove), of COVID-19 (45%/41%), voting and elections (44%/38%) and crime and public safety (44%/36%). His lowest rating comes in response to his handling of climate change (30% approve/38% disapprove). Disapproval also outweighs approval on Abbott’s handling of the electric grid (36%/45%) and public education (albeit narrowly, 38%/40%).
Other Texas job approval ratings Lt. Governor Dan Patrick: 37%
approve / 36% disapprove For a more extensive look at trends in Texans’ assessments of the job performance of elected officials and for approval ratings of various figures, see our page that tracks job approvals and economic assessments over the life of Texas Politics Project statewide polling. *ABOUT INDEPENDENTS: All references to independents exclude self-declared independents who, upon a follow-up to the survey’s initial question about party identification, indicated leaning toward one of the parties. The group of “true” independents referenced in this poll made up 13% of the sample. For a complete breakdown of the distribution of 7-point party identification, see the PID7 item in the demographics section of the poll summary. Which of the following describes one of the political implications of recent demographic changes in Texas quizlet?what are the political implications of recent demographic trends in TX? The rapid growth of the minority population in Texas means that the source of Democratic voters is booming; however, low voter turnout and mixed support for Greg Abbott among Latinos has thwarted new Democratic wins.
What best describes Texas's dominant political culture today quizlet?What best describes Texas's dominant political culture today? The best government is active liberal government.
What is the impact of Texas political culture on political participation quizlet?What is the impact of Texas political culture on political participation? It discourages political participation. In Texas, how long prior to an election must you register in order to be eligible to vote? federal government intervention.
Which statement best describes the relationship between Texans and political parties?Which statement best describes the relationship between Texans and political parties? Many citizens are ambivalent or even hostile to political parties.
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