Post Date: August 2020
The Second Reading Podcast: Governor Abbott and the Pandemic (Recorded August 4, 2020)
For this week's Second Reading Podcast, Jim Henson and Jonathan Tilove, Chief Political Writer of the Austin American Statesman, discuss his recent interview with Governor Greg Abbott and his appraisal of the path of the Governor's handling of the pandemic recently published in the Austin American Statesman.
Trump vote by mail rhetoric further poisons already toxic Texas attitudes toward elections
President Donald Trump’s assertion via Twitter that “Universal Mail-In Voting” will make 2020 “the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT ELECTION in history” was certainly well-received in corners of the Texas Republican Party that Trump needs to mobilize to remain competitive in November. He has Republican allies in state government that have succeeded in blocking the expansion of voting by mail in the courts, and voters who support such efforts: In the June 2020 Texas Politics Project poll, 72% of Texas Republicans opposed allowing all Texans to vote by mail in response to the pandemic; only 21% of Texas Republicans favored it, with only 7% on the fence. But skepticism of elections runs much deeper, and predates Trump's presidency.