Immigration, economics and public education are among Texas voters’ top concerns about what lawmakers should prioritize in the 89th session of the Texas Legislature, according to the University’s Texas Politics Project poll released on Jan. 15.
The Texas Politics Project, a University project that conducts multiple surveys throughout the year, asked Texans “open-ended” questions about their top legislative priorities in December of 2024, and 22% of voters cited immigration and border security, followed by economic and pricing concerns at 16% and public education at 8%, according to the poll. School vouchers, an issue declared as a top priority for the current Texas Legislative session, were only mentioned as a top priority by 2% of Republicans polled.
“We regularly survey Texas voters throughout the legislative session to get a sense of what they expect of the legislature, their response to the legislature’s efforts as they’re in the process of legislating, and then finally, an evaluation of how the legislature did,” said Joshua Blank, the research director of the Texas Politics Project.
Blank said the poll is less about a disconnect between Texas voters and the legislature and more about examining the dynamics of partisan politics. He said Democrats believe the state underspends in areas such as public education, health care and the environment, while Republicans largely view immigration and border security as the only area of underspending — a sector where state spending has increased over the past four to eight years.
University Democrats Treasurer Jack Chrismon said it is important to keep student issues, such as education and affordability, at the forefront of Texas political conversation by engaging with the legislature. He said University Democrats, a student organization that promotes “progressive values,” makes a point to respectfully engage with opposing views on topics like immigration and border security.
Chrismon, an international relations and economics sophomore, said during the last session, Gov. Greg Abbott wanted school vouchers, a tax-funded subsidy to help pay for private schools, to pass and when the legislature failed to do so, he spent millions of dollars trying to increase the chances of passing school vouchers.
“Now, we may very well get vouchers this session,” Chrismon said. “(This) means that our public schools continue to be underfunded in the place (of) religious and non-religious private schools, which I think is worrying.”
Turning Point USA, a national conservative grassroots network on college campuses encouraging “traditional American values,” and civil rights organization ACLU of Texas declined to comment. Young Conservatives of Texas, an organization that advocates for conservative fiscal and social policies, did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.
Blank said looking at a representative sample like the poll can provide people with a better understanding of other people’s views and their priorities. He said this can help explain whether state action exists in different policy areas.
“One of the great things about survey research is it allows people to get a better sense of where their own opinions and attitudes exist within the broader constellation of a much more diverse universe of people than anyone really ever surrounds themselves with,” Blank said.