Blog
The effects of two decades of call-and-response between Texas Republican voters and their elected leaders on "election integrity"
A new round of interventions in the voting process by Texas state officials coincides with the reemergence of widespread doubts about elections and voting among Republican voters in the most recent statewide polling by the Texas Politics Project. The latest actions of state officials and new evidence of the persistence of doubts about the conduct of elections among Republican voters emerge from the rhetoric and policy of elected officials that have shaped public attitudes since the turn of the 21st century. These latest manifestations of declining trust in the electoral process, inflamed by Donald Trump's insistent propagation of the fiction that elections are being corrupted by the votes of undocumented immigrants, suggest that Texans are approaching the Rubicon in terms of their ability to maintain shared trust in the state's deployment of democracy.
Second Reading Podcast: Digging into Texas presidential results in the latest University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll
The Texas Politics Project polling team talks about results in the latest University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll.
The Texas Public Opinion Context for the Trump-Harris Presidential Debate
The much-anticipated, lone presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is one of the rare occasions where the breathless coverage leading up to the Tuesday evening event probably isn’t grossly over-hyped. It’s a lot, to be sure; but given the impact of the first presidential debate, it’s hard to argue that the stakes aren’t high, whether or not the debate lives up to the anticipation
Donald Trump maintains a lead in Texas but Kamala Harris narrows the gap amidst a surge in Democratic enthusiasm in new University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll
The latest University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll finds former president Donald Trump leading Vice-President Kamala Harris 49% to 44% in a head-to-head match-up in the presidential race in Texas. Nine percent chose an unspecified “someone else,” and 6% were undecided. This result follows a June UT/Texas Politics Project Poll in which then-candidate Joe Biden trailed Trump by 7 points, 46% to 39%.
Second Reading Podcast: Immigration and elections return to center state in Texas politics for Labor Day
Jim Henson talks with veteran observer of Texas politics Harvey Kronberg about the impact of the rebooted presidential race in Texas, and simmering politics in Texas over legislative elections, the grid and vouchers, and relations among Texas' big three.
Second Reading Podcast: A look at female voters in Texas as Democrats reach out to women in Chicago
Jim Henson talks with veteran observer of Texas politics Harvey Kronberg about the impact of the rebooted presidential race in Texas, and simmering politics in Texas over legislative elections, the grid and vouchers, and relations among Texas' big three.
Grid politics haven’t affected Texas elections, but voters’ doubts about reliability may be more resilient than the grid itself
Whatever the mix of factors — a lack of awareness of the specifics of what the legislature has tried to do, the extreme complexity of the issues involved, or a general lack of trust in political institutions — polling throughout the two sessions has shown a consistent a lack of confidence in what the state’s political leadership is doing to increase the reliability and resilience of the grid.
Second Reading Podcast: A chat with Harvey Kronberg about presidential and legislative politics in Texas
Jim Henson talks with veteran observer of Texas politics Harvey Kronberg about the impact of the rebooted presidential race in Texas, and simmering politics in Texas over legislative elections, the grid and vouchers, and relations among Texas' big three.
Second Reading Podcast: Early baselines for the Harris ticket in Texas and rumblings in state politics
After a three week break, Jim Henson and Josh Blank look at the baseline numbers in the presidential campaign before the big changes in the presidential race and take a quick look at some of the politics simmering in Texas in the shadow of the national politics.