May 10, 2023
In a new Second Reading Podcast, Jim Henson and Josh Blank look at what the latest University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll tells us about the suprising movement of a bill that would raise the legal age for purchasing some firearms from 18- to 21 years of age, and Gov. Abbott's latest actions on the US-Mexico border.
A few of the poll results discussed in the podcast. More results of the April 2023 UT/Texas Politics Project Poll can be found in the blog entry created for the rollout of the poll and in our polling archive. And here's a link directly to the final calendar deadlines for the Texas Legislature.
Gun safety measures
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| category | Total |
|---|---|
| Strongly support | 48% |
| Somewhat support | 24% |
| Somewhat oppose | 9% |
| Strongly oppose | 9% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 10% |
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| Category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strongly support | 71% | 34% | 34% |
| Somewhat support | 17% | 17% | 30% |
| Somewhat oppose | 5% | 10% | 12% |
| Strongly oppose | 1% | 17% | 16% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 7% | 22% | 8% |
Border security
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| category | Democrats | Independents | Republicans |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb. 2015 | 14% | 33% | 59% |
| June 2015 | 14% | 25% | 59% |
| Oct. 2015 | 12% | 32% | 57% |
| Feb. 2016 | 17% | 28% | 54% |
| June 2016 | 8% | 29% | 52% |
| Oct. 2016 | 7% | 32% | 56% |
| Feb. 2017 | 8% | 21% | 51% |
| June 2017 | 7% | 36% | 51% |
| Oct. 2017 | 12% | 30% | 44% |
| Feb. 2018 | 12% | 32% | 48% |
| June 2018 | 8% | 24% | 53% |
| Oct. 2018 | 9% | 29% | 62% |
| Feb. 2019 | 11% | 29% | 62% |
| June 2019 | 11% | 35% | 59% |
| Oct. 2019 | 12% | 28% | 57% |
| Feb. 2020 | 10% | 32% | 52% |
| Apr. 2020 | 1% | 8% | 28% |
| June 2020 | 3% | 14% | 29% |
| Oct. 2020 | 3% | 11% | 30% |
| Feb. 2021 | 2% | 23% | 46% |
| Mar. 2021 | 8% | 35% | 61% |
| Apr. 2021 | 6% | 35% | 65% |
| June 2021 | 6% | 35% | 59% |
| Aug. 2021 | 2% | 29% | 64% |
| Oct. 2021 | 2% | 26% | 68% |
| Feb. 2022 | 3% | 28% | 58% |
| Apr. 2022 | 4% | 31% | 61% |
| June 2022 | 2% | 19% | 45% |
| Aug. 2022 | 4% | 38% | 54% |
| Oct. 2022 | 4% | 35% | 61% |
| Dec. 2022 | 3% | 27% | 60% |
| Feb. 2023 | 5% | 32% | 59% |
| Apr. 2023 | 5% | 19% | 57% |
| June 2023 | 7% | 39% | 59% |
| Aug. 2023 | 5% | 38% | 59% |
| Oct. 2023 | 9% | 43% | 60% |
| Dec. 2023 | 7% | 32% | 61% |
| Feb. 2024 | 14% | 44% | 68% |
| Apr. 2024 | 13% | 40% | 63% |
| June 2024 | 9% | 34% | 61% |
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| category | Total |
|---|---|
| Extremely important | 37% |
| Very important | 22% |
| Somewhat important | 18% |
| Not very important | 8% |
| Not important | 12% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 4% |
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| Category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extremely important | 15% | 24% | 63% |
| Very important | 18% | 23% | 24% |
| Somewhat important | 25% | 12% | 10% |
| Not very important | 16% | 6% | 2% |
| Not important | 23% | 21% | 1% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 3% | 13% | 0% |
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| Category | Lean conservative | Somewhat conservative | Extremely conservative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extremely important | 33% | 63% | 74% |
| Very important | 36% | 24% | 16% |
| Somewhat important | 21% | 9% | 7% |
| Not very important | 6% | 2% | 0% |
| Not important | 2% | 1% | 0% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 1% | 2% | 3% |