Two University of Texas/Texas Tribune pollsters say top state officials edging into slightly tighter gun control laws are taking their cues from the changing electoral climate — not from changing attitudes among voters.
Jim Henson
Jim Henson directs the Texas Politics Project and teaches in the Department of Government at The University of Texas, where he also received a doctorate. He helped design public interest multimedia for the Benton Foundation in Washington, D.C., in the late 1990s and has written about politics in general-interest and academic publications. He also serves as associate director of the College of Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services unit at UT, where he has helped produce several award-winning instructional media projects. In 2008, he and Daron Shaw, a fellow UT government professor, established the first statewide, publicly available internet survey of public opinion in Texas using matched random sampling. He lives in Austin, where he also serves as a member of the City of Austin Ethics Review Commission.
Posted in
Demographics
The Polling Center: Is Easy Resolution on In-State Tuition a GOP Dream?
As Rick Perry hedges that he could yet again seek a presidential nomination, and the issue of in-state tuition for illegal immigrants continues to arise in GOP primary races, polling results help illustrate the challenges the issue poses for candidates.
Posted in
Politics
Polling Center: Dewhurst’s Fortunes Track Party Changes
David Dewhurst’s predicament — abandoned first by most Republican primary voters and then by one of the bellwethers of the Texas big business establishment — reveals how the Texas GOP has changed since he first became lieutenant governor in 2003.
Posted in
Public Education
Polling Center: Leaving Tests Behind
The same voters who responded well to George W. Bush’s education policies oppose one of its main components: the standardized tests introduced to make schools more accountable.
Posted in
Politics
Polling Center: Threading the Needle on Education
Education policy is usually a winner for Democratic candidates, but in Texas, things are more nuanced, especially when it comes to education spending. This year’s race for governor race is a great example.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
The Polling Center: Texans Aim for Self-Defense in Gun Control Debate
To the extent that Wednesday’s Fort Hood shooting prompts a renewed discussion of guns in Texas, discussion will almost certainly be dominated by talk of increasing access to guns, not curtailing it.
Posted inState Government
Polling Center: Legal Pot in Texas? Snuff the Thought
Only 28 percent of Texans say they are opposed to legalization of marijuana for any reason. Most would OK it for medicinal use, and nearly half would approve it for recreational use. But the state’s most conservative voters are not likely to go along.
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Politics
The Polling Center: Does the Tea Party Really Want to Limit Government?
It might be tempting to romanticize the Tea Party as something distinct from the Republican Party, but poll data suggests that Tea Party voters would support using government power to enact unquestionably conservative policies.
Posted in
Politics
Polling Center: Poll Findings vs. Election Results
In several races, Tuesday’s election results didn’t match the findings of the University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll two weeks earlier. What happened?
Posted in
Politics
The Polling Center: Strong Undercurrents Still Define Abbott-Davis Race
Reporting of this week’s UT/TT Poll can’t help but present a simple story: Davis is down, Abbott is up. But these latest results reflect factors that are much more deeply rooted than the low-hanging fruit making headlines and feeding campaign emails.
