The ballot requested voters about legislative priorities, how the state is spending its cash and extra.
AUSTIN, Texas — Because the 89th legislative session will get underway on the Texas State Capitol, a brand new ballot is revealing what Texans need lawmakers to concentrate on probably the most.
Here is a have a look at the outcomes of the December ballot commissioned by the Texas Politics Challenge and revealed on Jan. 15, 2025. The ballot measured the responses of about 1,200 registered voters.
The problems
The ballot reveals that when Texas voters have been requested what they thought the Legislature’s high precedence can be, immigration or border security-related points have been probably the most regularly talked about responses. These points have been adopted by the economic system or considerations associated to excessive costs, then training and crime.
The total responses to the query have been:
- Immigration/border safety: 22%
- The economic system/costs: 16%
- Public training: 8%
- Crime: 4%
- Property taxes: 4%
- Well being care: 4%:
- Abortion legislation: 3%
- Vitality/the facility grid: 3%
- Do not know: 14%
One factor lawmakers are tasked with this session is assessing methods to spend the $194.6 billion in obtainable funds recognized by Comptroller Glenn Hegar. When requested concerning the state’s spending habits, the ballot discovered majorities of voters mentioned Texas was spending “too little” on psychological well being companies (58%), well being care (55%) and electrical infrastructure (50%). Roughly 49% additionally mentioned the state was spending too little on Okay-12 public training and on youngsters within the state’s care.
The ballot additionally requested voters concerning the strictness of state legal guidelines in six coverage areas which have been lively topics in latest classes: voting, abortion, weapons, marijuana/hashish, playing and entry to on-line pornography.
The ballot discovered that for guidelines for voting, 35% of respondents need extra strict legal guidelines, 22% need much less strict and 36% need the legal guidelines left as they’re. For weapons, 50% need stricter gun legal guidelines, 18% need much less strict legal guidelines and 26% need the legal guidelines left as they’re. With regards to abortion, 43% of respondents need the legal guidelines to be much less strict, 27% need them to be extra strict and 21% need them left as they’re.
For marijuana, 41% need much less strict legal guidelines, 32% need extra strict and 18% need the legal guidelines left alone. For playing, 30% favored each extra strict and fewer strict legal guidelines, whereas 26% need the legal guidelines saved the identical. And for entry to on-line pornography, 58% mentioned they need stricter legal guidelines, 18% need much less strict legal guidelines and 19% need the legal guidelines left as they’re.
Temper of the state
The ballot discovered that 47% of respondents mentioned Texas is headed in the proper route, with 38% saying the state is on the flawed observe.
In the meantime, opinions on the route of the nation as an entire remained extra damaging. Solely 31% of respondents mentioned the U.S. is headed in the proper route, with 56% saying the nation is on the flawed observe. The Texas Politics Challenge did observe that this was a slight enchancment from October 2024, when 26% responded proper route and 63% responded flawed observe.
Job approval rankings
The ballot discovered that the majority Texas elected officers ended the 12 months with their job approval rankings on the upswing, although the Texas Politics Challenge famous that earlier December polls additionally discovered slight upticks in job approvals, “suggesting that there could be a basic tendency for not less than some voters to be in a extra constructive mindset in December.”
Here is a have a look at the approval rankings for the main elected officers for the Lone Star State:
- Gov. Greg Abbott: 55% approve, 34% disapprove
- Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick: 41% approve, 27% disapprove
- Lawyer Normal Ken Paxton: 40% approve, 30% disapprove
- U.S. Sen. John Cornyn: 34% approve, 33% disapprove
- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz: 49% approve, 37% disapprove
