July 2009

Governor Rick Perry

Poll results suggest that Texans' assessments of Gov. Rick Perry's performance are all over the map. 42% of respondents approve of the job that Perry is doing, with 13% approving strongly and 29% approving somewhat. 32% of respondents disapprove of the job Perry is doing, with 17% disapproving strongly and 15% disapproving somewhat. Still, 28% of respondents express no opinion on his performance, a fairly large percentage given Perry's long stint in office. Republicans in the survey are far more likely to approve of Perry's performance than disapprove, Democrats are far more likely to disapprove than approve, and independents are slightly more likely to disapprove than approve.

State Legislature

Poll results also suggest that Texans are closely divided over the performance of the state's legislature, but that a large number of Texans may not have sufficient knowledge about current events in state government to form an opinion. Equal percentages of respondents (30%) approved and disapproved of the state legislature's performance, while 40% of respondents refused to deliver an opinion on it.

President Barack Obama

Results demonstrate that President Barack Obama has become a highly polarizing figure inside Texas. Texans are closely divided over the president's performance, with a slightly greater percentage of respondents indicating some level of disapproval than some level of approval. Republican and Democratic identifiers, however, diverge enormously in their assessments of the president. 82% of Republicans express some level of disapproval with the president, while 83% of Democrats express some level of approval. Independents, on the other hand, split almost evenly in their assessments.

U.S. Congress

Finally, results indicate that Congress remains quite unpopular among Texans. 37% of respondents express strong disapproval of the performance of Congress, and another 15% somewhat disapprove. Conversely, a mere 4% of respondents express strong approval of Congress's performance, while another 22% somewhat approve. Republicans and independents alike overwhelmingly express some level of disapproval of Congress, while Democrats are more likely to express approval than disapproval.

October 2008

Respondents were asked about their approval of political leaders in the nation and the state. Given the predominance of the national election and the absence of statewide leadership on the ballot, the survey focused primarily on national leadership. Overall, the general mood of discontent with political leadership evident in national polls is also manifest in Texas.

Approval numbers

President George W. Bush's approval numbers are slightly higher in Texas than they have been nationally, but they are still quite low. Thirty-four percent of the sample approved of how he "has been handling his job as president, with just under 10 percent approving "strongly." (The approval number increased slightly to 36% among registered voters.) Fifty-five percent disapproved, with 38.7 percent disapproving strongly. These numbers are notable in that they come in a survey that otherwise found strong support for other Republican leaders, including presidential candidate John McCain.

Texans took a very dim view of the US Congress in the survey. When asked whether they approved or disapproved of Congress's handling of the economy and energy, responses were resoundingly negative. About three quarters of the respondents disapproved in both areas (74% on the economy, 75% on energy), with only 8% and 7% approving of Congress's performance on the economy and energy, respectively.

With the national election garnering most of voters' attention, we only asked one state level approval question. When asked, "do you approve or disapprove of the way Rick Perry has been handling his job as governor," 37% registered approval, with 11 % approving strongly; 31% disapproved, and 32.4% neither approved nor disapproved.

Feeling Thermometers

Feeling thermometers measure emotional evaluations of individuals toward political leaders. In this survey, individuals were asked to rate leaders on a scale of 0 to 100 degrees. A rating of 100 degrees means that they feel extremely favorable and warm toward a given political figure. A rating of 0 degrees means that they feel extremely unfavorable and cold toward the figure. A rating of 50 degrees is given if individuals don't feel particularly warm or cold toward the figure.

Compared to the thermometer readings in our July 2008 poll, responses to the feeling thermometers may be reflecting Texans increased attention to the campaign and the upcoming election. Among national figures, McCain's strong showing may be driven by the jump in his average rating: his mean thermometer score was 53.8 degrees in July, but improved to 60.1 in October. Sarah Palin scored comparably (59.9), while Barack Obama's average declined by about one degree.

Among statewide political leaders, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison continued to be rated more warmly than other leaders--her score of 60.8 degrees was the highest of any of the figures offered to respondents. Governor Rick Perry edged into warm territory with a 51.1 degree average. Both US Senate candidates also scored on the warm side of the thermometer, with incumbent Republican John Cornyn registering an average of 58.6 degrees and Democratic Challenger Rick Noriega averaging 53.1 degrees.

Information about Barack Obama

Barack Obama's religion has been the subject of much discussion in the media. Though Obama is a practicing Protestant, well-publicized emails and word of mouth campaigns inaccurately identifying him as a Muslim have been circulated since the early days of his candidacy. In order to gauge public awareness of Obama's religion, we asked respondents, "What do you believe Barack Obama's religion to be?" A plurality, 45.5%, chose the "Protestant" option, and 28 % couldn't say. Twenty percent, however, said that Obama is a Muslim.

February-March 2009

Two distinct sets of questions allow us some leverage on how Texans view their political leaders. First, respondents were asked to use a 0-100 "thermometer" scale to rate how favorably (or unfavorably) they viewed national and statewide political figures. By and large, Texans were mildly positive towards their leaders. President Barack Obama received a mean rating of 53, while Alaska governor Sarah Palin received a 50. At the state level, Governor Rick Perry and Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst each received a 51, while Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn received 57 and 55, respectively. Newly elected speaker Joe Straus received a 44, but a majority of respondents indicated they were not familiar enough with him to offer a rating.

Second, we asked standard "approve/disapprove" job performance questions. When asked to rate the president and U.S. Congress, Texans apparently believe the "honeymoon" period is just about over (if there ever was one in a state the president lost by a large margin in 2008) . President Obama garners mixed ratings, with 45% approving of his performance and 42% disapproving. Reactions coincide with party leanings, as Democrats are quite supportive while Republicans are mildly disapproving. With respect to the U.S. Congress, the mood is negative: 25% approve and 53% disapprove (37% "strongly" disapprove). No political or demographic groups are particularly supportive of the performance of those on Capitol Hill.

Closer to home, 40% approve of Rick Perry's job performance, while 34% disapprove. It is interesting that after more than eight years in office, 27% neither approve nor disapprove of Perry's performance. His 40% approval rating is a slight improvement on his 2008 numbers.

Meanwhile, ratings of the Texas legislature are the essence of ambivalence. Thirty percent approve, while 30% disapprove and 40% say they neither approve nor disapprove. Moreover, only 10% register "strong" opinions one way or the other.