A snapshot of the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Political Project gives us a better look at what top priority is for Texas voters. The results explain many of Gov. Greg Abbott’s emergency items to the legislature, and why he is holding events around the state to build support for even more controversial items.
Every few months, pollers ask the Texans what they believe is the most urgent item that lawmakers are working on. They asked registered voters who voted to tell them what was “extremely” and “very” important from a list of 15 subjects.
The top four were as follows: 84% said they improved the reliability of the state’s energy grid, 81% said they reduced the costs of daily goods and services, 81% said they improved reliability of their state’s water supply, and 76% said they reduced property taxes.
Gov. Abbott appointed seven emergency items earlier this year, updating the state’s energy grid, improving the state’s water supply and reducing property taxes. These three issues are also the main issues for Texas House leaders, Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, and Texas Senator and Lt. Col. Dampatrick.
The three heading towards the bottom are either one party or other general care topics, or new niche issues.
44% of registered Texas voters told pollers that expanding access to abortion was very or very important. Texas bans almost all state abortions, and Republican-controlled Congress has little desire to ease restrictions. Clarifying the law and not worrying about being arrested and charged if a doctor performs a legal abortion is a rare exception to this year’s efforts at Capitol.
39% say the school’s choice voucher program (enables families to use public school dollars in private and homeschools) is extremely important. Because this item is Governor Abbott’s number one priority this year. Two years ago, a bipartisan group in the Texas family rejected a similar proposal. Since then, Gov. Abbott has continued to host campaign-style events across the state to campaign-style, expel members of his own party on the issue and put pressure on lawmakers.
Polls showed that the majority of Republicans believe school choice vouchers are important, with few people at the top of the list. The signal to Jim Henson of UT Austin’s Texas Political Project shows why Abbott is trying to keep the topic in mind through the event and why school choice advocates, businesses and interest groups spent millions of dollars trying to get items at the finish line.
“We know how this works on issues that politics is at the forefront and not at the center of the public. Elite, political leaders face the masses in the face of time and resources to shape the views of people who have no strong opinions on this,” Henson told NBC 5.
On Thursday night, Gov. Abbott will host a rally in Fort Worth at Temple Christian Academy, which was billed as an empowerment night for local lawmakers and school choice advocates and parents, and will talk about “why we should expand our school choice in Texas.”
“This session will allow Texas to go through school choices and help students thrive,” Gov. Abbott wrote online before the event.
In response, Rep. James Tarico (Austin) got caught up in debate, pointing out the possibility that Fort Worth would close 25 schools and denounce the state’s lack of funds due to some of their problems.
“Greg Abbott’s voucher fraud will continue to emit taxpayer dollars from underfunded public schools and continue to give those dollars to unexplained private schools like Temple Christian School,” Tarico said.
Towards the bottom of the list, only 34% of Texans voted by UT-Austin believe it is very or very important to limit the sale of cannabis products. This is a new item from Lt. Col. Dan Patrick, the leader of the Texas Senate. The law is under scrutiny after retailers recently used hemp laws to expand significantly in Texas.
Lawmakers will be at the legislative meeting until the first day of June.
