In a new Second Reading Podcast, Jim Henson and Joshua Blank talk about Gov. Abbott's response to recent border policy annoucements by the Biden administration, and speculate about how Abbott's recent order increasing truck inspections plays into the gubernatorial campaign.
The conversation touches on polling on Texas attitudes toward border security. For reference, the graphic below breaks illustrates how immigration and border security continued to loom large in Texas Republcians' estimation of the most important problem facing the state in the February 2022 University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.
| Category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Border security | 1% | 18% | 36% |
| Immigration | 2% | 10% | 22% |
| Coronavirus/COVID-19 | 16% | 10% | 4% |
| Political corruption/leadership | 18% | 9% | 2% |
| The economy | 6% | 8% | 5% |
| Voting rights | 9% | 1% | 1% |
| Health care | 6% | 5% | 1% |
NOTE: the podcast was recorded a few hours prior to Gov. Abbott's joint press conference with Nuevo León Gov. Samuel Alejandro García Sepúlveda announcing an agreement to ease Texas inspections at the Laredo-Colombia bridge in exchange for increased enforcement on the Mexican side of the border. Per Abbott's statement, Texas inspections will continue pending agreements with other Mexican border-state governors. For coverage of the press conference, see Texas Tribune coverage by Uriel J. García and Mitchell Ferman.
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 Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.