Texans discouraged about economy, skeptical of leaders, new polling says
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — More Texans are seeing discouraging signs when it comes to their economic outlook, according to a new poll. The poll from the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas shows growing skepticism of individual political leaders and the state of democracy in general.
The poll asked people about their views of the state of the economy in Texas. One question asked if the Texas economy is better or worse than one year ago. Nearly half of Texans polled, 46%, said that the Texas economy is worse, while 26% said it was better.
Another question dug deeper into the issue, asking if you and your family are better off or worse off than one year ago. The response showed 43% of Texans saying they were worse off, with 21% saying they were better off. More than a third, 35%, said their economic situation was about the same as one year ago.
The price of food and consumer goods topped the list of economic issues raising concern, with 90% of people polled seeing it as a concern. The cost of healthcare was close behind, with 88% of people polled listing it as a concern.
The poll included a question asking to name the most important problem facing the state of Texas currently. The top answer was political corruption/leadership at 18%. Inflation/rising prices was listed at 14%, while 9% in the poll listed immigration as the issue of top concern.
The poll asked a series of questions asking people to rate the job performance of the state's top leaders. None of them fared well. Just 39% of respondents approved of the job Greg Abbott is doing as governor, with 50% saying they disapprove. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick had a 29% job approval in the poll. On the federal level, Sen. John Cornyn had 25% job approval among people polled. Sen. Ted Cruz had a 35% job approval score in the poll.
The poll also included favorability ratings for candidates running for U.S. Senate in next year's primary elections. Attorney General Ken Paxton is challenging Sen. Cornyn in the Republican Primary. The poll showed 28% of voters view him favorably, with 44% saying they have an unfavorable view of Paxton. That's slightly better than Cornyn's outcome in the poll, where 24% gave him a favorable rating and 46% said they have an unfavorable view.
Rep. Wesley Hunt, who recently joined the Republican primary race, had a favorable score of 16% versus 18% unfavorable. Nearly half of voters polled, 45% answered "don't know/no opinion" when asked about Hunt.
The poll showed a similar situation for State Rep. James Talarico, who's running for the Democratic nomination. Close to half, 47% of those polled, said they don't know or don't have an opinion of the Austin Democrat. 22% gave him a favorable opinion, while 12% rated him unfavorably.
Name recognition is also an issue for former astronaut Terry Virts, who's also running for the Democratic nomination. The poll showed 67% of poll respondents had a don't know/no opinion of his candidacy.
Colin Allred, who ran for Senate last year against Ted Cruz, has the name recognition. Only 17% of people in the poll said they had no opinion of Allred. He split evenly among favorable/unfavorable ratings, with 32% in each category.
The Texas Politics Project polled 1200 registered voters in the state from Oct. 10 - 12. The margin of error in the poll is +/- 2.83%