New University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll Finds Little Confidence In the Legislature’s Efforts to Address Key Issues
By Jim Henson & Joshua Blank, Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas
June 23, 2023 — After a regular legislative session that found lawmakers attempting to use a historic budget surplus to address major fiscal issues and infrastructure needs while also pushing some cultural hot buttons, the latest University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll found Texas voters with low expectations of the impact of their actions, and dim views of the legislature’s responsiveness.
When asked in general terms about their confidence in legislative efforts to address areas deemed critical by voters in Texas Politics Project polling conducted earlier in the session, most Texas voters lacked confidence in lawmakers’ efforts. Fewer than one in five voters was willing to say they were ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ confident that the legislature had increased the reliability of the electric grid or the water supply, improved the safety of Texas’ public schools, or improved security along the Texas-Mexico border.
In a more general assessment that also illustrates Texans’ low expectations of the legislature’s efforts, asked at the conclusion of the regular session whether the legislature had “made the lives of Texans like you better, made the lives of Texans like you worse, or had no impact on the lives of Texans like you,” only 5% said the legislature had made their lives “a lot better,” joined by 24% who agreed that lawmakers had made their lives “somewhat better.” The plurality, 26%, expected no impact, while 3 in 10 expected the legislature to have made Texans’ lives “somewhat worse” (16%) or “a lot worse (14%).
At the same time, nearly half of Texans (49%) said that Texas’ state government “mostly ignores the needs of Texas residents” — up nearly 20-points since the question was first asked in October of 2012 — while only a little more than a third (36%) said that state government mostly addresses Texans’ needs — down from 54% in October 2012.
As the Texas legislature remains riven by intra-party conflict over property tax reform during the current (first called) special session, Texas voters expressed disapproval of legislative efforts on key issues flagged as priorities by the state’s leadership and, in some cases, by voters themselves, according to results in the latest UT/TXPP Poll. The most striking examples of public skepticism toward recent and current legislative efforts were in response to issues voters identified as urgent in Texas Politics Project Polling conducted earlier in the legislative session: property tax reduction, the reliability of the electric grid, and school safety.
THE PROPERTY TAX IMPASSE
Texans largely disapproved when asked to rate legislative efforts to reduce property taxes, with 45% disapproving and only 25% expressing approval. While all three of the state’s major elected leaders – the governor, lieutenant governor, and Speaker of the House – publicly prioritized cutting property taxes prior to the session, and subsequently committed large shares of the state’s budget surplus to that effort, the House and Senate failed to agree on an approach to achieving those cuts, leading to an impasse that has continued into a special session called by Gov. Abbott to address the issue. This state of affairs appears to be informing public evaluations.
Voters’ evaluations of state leaders’ attempts to reduce property taxes saw the lowest total approval rating from among 16 issue areas voters were asked to evaluate, as well as the lowest net approval rating (-20)…
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