Second Reading Podcast: Donald Trump's support among Texas Republicans

 Jim Henson and Joshua Blank look at Donald Trump's standing in Texas after his win in Iowa – and the long term roots of support for him among Texas Republicans.

Touchstones from the latest Second Reading podcast

Recent Texas Politics Projects posts on the public opinion context of the 2024 elections.

Trending into 2024: How the past year in Texas public opinion sets the stage for the election year in Texas

On cross-currents in Texas attitudes toward the legislature;  Despite the record of the 88th Legislature, GOP legislators have trouble displaying enough of the Right Stuff to fend off widespread challenges to incumbents. 

Some polling results mentioned in the podcast

On Trump support in the GOP presidential primary

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categoryTotal
Donald Trump65%
Ron DeSantis12%
Nikki Haley9%
Vivek Ramaswamy4%
Chris Christie2%
Doug Burgum1%
Someone else0%
No one/None of them1%
Anyone/Any of them1%
Don't know/No opinion6%

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CategoryLean RepublicanNot very strong RepublicanStrong Republican
Donald Trump61%49%80%
Ron DeSantis18%14%10%
Nikki Haley7%11%4%
Vivek Ramaswamy8%5%2%
Chris Christie0%2%1%
Doug Burgum0%0%1%
Someone else0%1%0%
No one/None of them0%2%0%
Anyone/Any of them1%3%1%
Don't know/No opinion6%13%2%

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CategoryLean conservativeSomewhat conservativeExtremely conservative
Donald Trump47%72%76%
Ron DeSantis18%10%14%
Nikki Haley17%7%4%
Vivek Ramaswamy6%4%3%
Chris Christie2%1%0%
Doug Burgum3%1%0%
Someone else0%0%0%
No one/None of them1%0%1%
Anyone/Any of them0%1%0%
Don't know/No opinion6%5%2%

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CategoryUrbanSuburbanRural
Donald Trump67%63%69%
Ron DeSantis14%10%12%
Nikki Haley8%10%8%
Vivek Ramaswamy4%5%1%
Chris Christie0%2%2%
Doug Burgum1%0%0%
Someone else1%0%0%
No one/None of them0%1%1%
Anyone/Any of them2%1%0%
Don't know/No opinion2%6%7%

Trump favorability ratings

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categoryFavorableUnfavorableNeither/Don't know
Nov. 201554%31%12%
Feb. 201647%41%10%
June 201653%32%13%
Oct. 201660%30%10%
Feb. 201781%12%6%
Oct. 202085%12%4%
Feb. 202185%9%7%
June 202186%8%5%
Oct. 202182%12%6%
Feb. 202280%13%7%
Apr. 202279%10%10%
June 202276%12%11%
Aug. 202276%14%9%
Oct. 202282%9%9%
Dec. 202275%17%9%
Feb. 202379%12%10%
Apr. 202378%16%6%
June 202376%16%8%
Aug. 202379%15%7%
Dec. 202380%13%8%
Feb. 202483%12%5%
Apr. 202484%10%6%
June 202479%14%6%
Aug. 202488%9%3%

Views of Trump messaging on the 2020 election and January 6

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YesNoNot sure
Feb. 202222%67%11%
June 202220%66%14%
Aug. 202220%66%14%
Oct. 202220%64%16%
Dec. 202224%61%16%
Feb. 202317%69%14%
Apr. 202322%64%14%
Aug. 202321%69%11%
Oct. 202321%63%17%
Dec. 202319%62%18%
Feb. 202423%59%18%
Apr. 202423%61%17%
June 202422%60%18%
Aug. 202425%58%17%
Oct. 202424%55%20%

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CategoryDemocratIndependentRepublican
Strongly agree73%39%11%
Somewhat agree16%14%14%
Somewhat disagree3%8%19%
Strongly disagree2%23%44%
Don't know/No opinion6%16%12%

About the Second Reading podcast. The podcast has been produced intermittently by Jim Henson for the Texas Politics Project, with production support from UT's Liberal Arts Development Studio, since 2016. You can find past episodes and subscribe to the Second Reading podcast in Apple PodcastsSpotify,  and Stitcher.

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