The UT-Austin Texas Politics Poll was launched in July of 2008, marking a major step forward in the measurement of public opinion for Texas.

In October, 2009, researchers in the Department of Government welcomed The Texas Tribune, a new non-profit, nonpartisan public media organization based in Austin, as collaborators in the project. The Tribune will sponsor five public opinion polls that are to be conducted between October 2009 and December 2010 by The University of Texas at Austin's Texas Politics Project.

At the time the UT Poll was launched, Texas did not have a regularly occurring, non-partisan poll from which data are made available for public use (other large states, such as California and New York, have these sorts of polls). The UT Poll fills this gap by providing a much-needed measure of public opinion among adult citizens of Texas.

The UT-Austin/Texas Tribune poll is notable not just for its substantive contribution but for its research design as well. It is conducted in conjunction with YouGov/Polimetrix, a company that is well-known for its innovative internet-based survey techniques. Unlike most political surveys, the UT-Austin/Texas Tribune Poll will be conducted entirely online. Internet-based polling is rapidly becoming a popular alternative to telephone-based polling; as many have observed, telephone polls are becoming somewhat problematic because of the growth of cellphone-only households and caller ID screening in residential landlines. Thus, the UT-Austin/Texas Tribune Poll represents a cutting-edge approach to ascertaining popular opinion in Texas.

The poll is designed to provide both educational and research resources to students, educators, and the general public. The survey data is and will continue to be made available to the public and to researchers. Graphs and charts are designed to make data not only available but accessible to everyone interested in Texas politics and government.

Contact:

Dr. James Henson

Department of Government and Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services

The University of Texas at Austin

512 471-0090

j.henson[at]austin.utexas.edu

Professor Daron Shaw

Government Department

University of Texas at Austin

512 232-7275

dshaw[at]austin.utexas.edu