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New survey reveals Texans are in favor of special legislative session

Posted on Friday, April 22, 2022

Michael Adams

Political Science professor and founding director of TSU’s Executive MPA Program Dr. Michael O. Adams conducted a public opinion poll asking Texans their views on a number of issues of importance

A new survey shows an overwhelming number of Texans are in favor of the state legislature holding a special session to address inflation and the economy.

The Texas public opinion poll fielded between February 14-16, 2022, asks Texans their views on the overall performance of the state and a number of issues of importance including: cost of living, taxes on goods and services, support for immigration and support for diversity in the public and private sectors. The results provide the aggregate percent response of all respondents and also examines poll results through three key demographic markers: race/ethnicity, age, and political party identification.  

See below for additional key findings from the Texas Poll. To view the full public opinion report, please visit the following link: https://bit.ly/texaspop .

Number of Questions: 9

Number of Respondents: 434

Margin of error:  ±4.7 at 95% confidence interval

 

Support to Address the Cost of Utilities

  • 71% of all respondents say that the Texas Legislature should be called back into a special session to lower the cost of utilities.
  • 92% of Black respondents support calling a special session to address utilities followed by Asian (80%) and Hispanic (80%) respondents while only 66% of White respondents and those who identify as Other (64%) support this approach.
  • Younger respondents 18-29 (84%) are most likely to support calling a special session while older respondents 65+ (67%) are least likely to support a special session to address the cost of utilities.
  • 82% of respondents who identify as Democrat support calling a special session while all other party groups share a less supportive sentiment--Independent (68%), Other (65%), Not Sure (69%), and Republican (60%)

Support to Eliminate Sales Taxes on Goods and Services

  • 84% of respondents believe the Texas Legislature should eliminate sales taxes on all groceries and medical services and equipment to reduce the cost for Texas consumers.
  • Asian (90%), Black (89%), Hispanic (89%), those who identify as Other (86%) and White (82%) respondents are most likely to support eliminating sales taxes while respondents identify as being of Two or More Races (69%) are the least likely—suggesting sales taxes are a shared concern for all racial/ethnic groups.
  • 89% of respondents 18-29 are likely to support an intervention by the legislature to remove sales taxes followed by respondents ages 30-44 (85%), 65+ (84%) and respondents 45-64 (81%)—little difference exists across age groups for level of support to eliminate sales tax.
  • 91% of Other respondents broadly support eliminating sales taxes followed by Democrat (88%), Not Sure (85%), Independent (82%), and Republican (78%) respondents—generally partisan support exists for removing sales taxes.

Support to Suspend the Gas Tax

  • A small majority (68%) of respondents support calling on the State of Texas and Congress to intervene and suspend the gas tax to reduce the price of gasoline at the pump for Texans
  • 86% of Hispanic respondents support a government intervention to suspend the gas tax followed by Black (81%), Asian (70%) and those identifying as being of Two or More Races (69%)—White (61%) respondents are the least likely to support but a moderate departure from most group respondents.
  • 89% of respondents 18-29 believe the state and Congress should intervene to temporarily reduce the gas tax for consumers followed by respondents ages 30-44 (68%), 45-64 (68%) and respondents 65+ (59%)—support by younger respondents is noticeably different from all other age groups.
  • Respondents who identify as Other (87%) by party affiliation are most likely to support suspending the gas tax while respondents identifying as Democrat (67%), Republican (68%), Independent (66%) and Not Sure (54%) share a similar sentiment of being less likely to support suspending the current gasoline tax.

Support to Change Property Tax Increase Formula

  • More than two-thirds (77%) of all respondents support getting rid of the annual appraised value property tax increase in Texas.
  • Respondents who identify as Other (100%) are most likely to support the removal of this increase followed by respondents who identify as being of Two or More Races (88%), Hispanic (85%), Asian (80%), and White (75%)—the method for increasing property taxes appears as a shared concern across racial/ethnic groups.
  • 86% of respondents 18-29 support suspending this type of property tax increase followed by respondents 65+ (80%) and respondents 34-44 (79%) years of age—although respondents ages 45-64 (73%) are least likely to support this type of increase it is minimal and overall all age groups disagree with the current appraised-value increase tax structure.
  • Respondents who identify as Other (87%) by party affiliation are most likely to support this type of property tax increase followed by respondents identifying as Republican (81%), Independent (81%), Democrat (71%), and Not Sure (62%)—overall there is little difference in sentiment on this issue suggesting that across party lines changing the current approach to determining property taxes is a shared concern.

Support for a Black Diversity Quota on Private Sector Board of Directors

  • Only 36% of respondents support a private sector quota for Black board members.
  • Black (78%) respondents are most likely to support this type of quota followed by Hispanic (46%), Asian (40%), respondents identifying as being of Two or More Races (38%), and White (28%) respondents—with the exception of Black respondents it is clear that most racial/ethnic groups do not support a private sector quota for Black board of directors.
  • Younger respondents 18-29 (51%) are much more inclined to support a private sector quota for Black board members than any other age group followed by respondents 30-44 (41%), 45-64 (34%). And respondents 65+ (28%) but support overall is marginal.
  • Respondents who identify as Democrat (57%) favor by a small majority a diversity quota followed by, Not Sure (46%),  Other (39%)  Independent (29%) and Republican (12%) respondents--generally support across party lines is extremely low as respondents are more likely to not support a private sector quota for a black member on a private company’s board of directors.

Support for A Black Female Supreme Court Appointment

  • 83% of respondents indicate support to appoint a Black woman to the United States Supreme Court.
  • Black respondents (94%)  are among those most likely to support appointing a Black woman to the Supreme Court followed by Asian (90%), Other (86%), White (82%), Hispanic (82%) respondents and those who identify as being of Two or More Races (75%)—there is little difference in sentiment among racial/ethnic groups in support for a Black female appointment to the Supreme Court.
  • 97% of respondents who identify as Democrat support the appointment of a Black woman to the highest court in the United States followed by Independent (80%), Other (78%), Republican (70%) respondents and those identifying as Not Sure (69%)—respondents identifying as Democrat are distinctively supportive of a black female appointment while all other political affiliations share a similar sentiment of moderate support.
  • Younger respondents 18–29 (92%) are most likely among age groups to support the appointment of a Black woman to the Supreme Court followed by respondents ages 45-64 (84%) and 30-44 (83%) while respondents 65+ (77%) are least likely to support the appointment of a Black woman to the Supreme Court.

Support for a Pathway to Citizenship

  • Only 40% of respondents indicate support for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants
  • Respondents identifying as Two or More Races (50%) are most likely to support a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants followed by Hispanic (46%), Asian (40%), Black (39%), and White (38%) respondents—generally very little support exists across racial/ethnic groups for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
  • Respondents ages 18–29 (73%) are most likely to support a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who enter the country without going through the proper process followed by respondents ages 30-44 (45%), 45-64 (38%) and respondents 65+ (25%)—overall little support exists across age groups with the exception of younger respondents who are interestingly much more inclined than any other group to support a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
  • Those who identify as Democrat (66%) are most likely to support a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants followed by Not Sure (62%), Other (48%), Independent (33%) and Republican (8%) respondents— Republicans respondents are overwhelmingly opposed to a pathway for citizenship and the survey results suggests that support varies radically by party affiliation.

Support for A Female President

  • Respondents who identify as Democrat (95%), are most likely to support a woman candidate for president followed by Independent (88%), Other (83%), and Republican (73%) respondents while respondents unsure of their political affiliation—Not Sure (69%) are least likely to support a woman candidate.
  • 92% of Black respondents support a woman candidate for president followed by Two or More Races (88%), White (87%), Other (86%), Asian (80%) and Hispanic (75%) respondents—generally support exists across racial/ethnic groups for woman candidate for president of the United States.
  • Respondents 45-64 (88%) and 65+ (88%) are most likely to support a female candidate for US President followed by respondents ages 18-29 (86%). Respondents 30-44 (78%) are least likely to support a female candidate—views on support vary marginally across age groups and suggests that age is not a significant factor in determining support for a female candidate for president.

General State of Texas

  • 75% of respondents who identify as Other believe the state is heading in the right direction followed by White (51%), Asian (50%), Hispanic (48%), Black (39%) respondents and those identify as being of Two or More Races (31%)—though Black and multiracial respondents are least likely to support the direction of the state generally support is overall very low.
  • Respondents 65+ (54%) are most satisfied with the direction of the state followed by respondents 30-44 (53%), 45-64 (48%), and respondents 18-29 (35%) years of age—although younger respondents are the least satisfied with the direction the state is heading in across age groups the sentiment is one of dissatisfaction.
  • 88% of Republican respondents support the direction the state is heading in followed by those identifying as Not Sure (54%), Independents (52%), Other (30%), and Democrat (20%)—with the exception of Republicans across party identifiers most respondents are not happy with the direction the state is headed.

Key Findings

  • Respondents ages 18-29, Black respondents, and respondents who identify as Democrat tend to support suspending or eliminating various taxes.
  • Respondents across all demographic groups are unlikely to support:
    • private sector quotas for black board of directors
    • a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants
  • With the exception of Republican respondents, all groups across demographic markers are unhappy with the direction the state is headed.
  • Across demographic markers support exists to appoint a Black woman to the Supreme Court.
  • Age and race are not significant factors in determining likelihood of support for a female candidate for President of the United States

For more questions about the Executive Master of Public Administration program at Texas Southern University or to learn more about the current research taking place in the program, please contact Dr. Michael O. Adams at (713) 313-7760 or michael.adams@tsu.edu.

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Last updated: 05/02/2022