This is a preview of our Texas 2036 newsletter discussing Texas voters and their approach to the ballot in the upcoming midterm elections. To receive this weekly look at our work, sign up here.
What Texas Voters Are Saying Before Election Day
One in six Texas voters is both unaffiliated with a political party and undecided on how they plan to vote just weeks before the November general election.
Today, Texas 2036 released its 10th Texas Voter Poll, offering a fresh look at how voters are approaching their ballots, which issues could shape their decisions and how they feel about Texas’ future.
In this special edition newsletter, we break down the poll’s biggest findings and what they could mean as Election Day approaches.
Many Voters Are Still Weighing Their Choices
The poll finds 16.7% of Texas voters are both unaffiliated and undecided. That means they are mostly or fully undecided about their choices in November and are not committed partisans based on their past voting behavior and views of the political parties.
How We Identify the Undecided and Unaffiliated Voters
Among these voters, 38% expect to support a mix of candidates across parties, another 24% are unsure how they will vote, and only about one in seven currently plans to vote exclusively for one party.
A Deeper Dive: Across the electorate, about half of voters intend to support candidates exclusively from one party, including 26% who plan to vote only for Republicans and 24% only for Democrats. Just 34% describe themselves as fully decided, while 37% are mostly decided and 21% are mostly or fully undecided.
“Even this close to Election Day, a meaningful share of Texas voters is still weighing choices across their ballots.
Yet on my many of the issues facing Texas, there is striking agreement, particularly around education outcomes, affordability, electricity and water.”
– John Hryhorchuk, Senior Vice President, Policy and Advocacy
Concern About Texas’ Future Reaches Record High
About two-thirds of voters say they are extremely or very concerned about Texas’ future, the highest level recorded across the 10 Texas Voter Polls conducted since 2020.
Concern crosses party lines, reaching a record 85% among Democrats and 58% among Republicans. Among Republican voters, concern increased 15 percentage points from last year.
Voter Concern About the Future of Texas Hits Record High
68% of Texas voters are extremely or very concerned – Democrats’ concern has more than doubled since January 2020, from 41% to 85%.
That concern is accompanied by doubts about whether Texas is preparing successfully for the decades ahead. Only 39% of voters say Texas is taking the proper actions to be the best state in which to live, work and raise a family in 20 years.
That compares with 53% on a similar question in 2020, though differences in wording and response options make the comparison directional.
Overall, 57% of voters expect the Texas economy to outperform the rest of the country over the next four years, but views differ considerably by party: Nearly 80% of Republicans expect Texas to outperform the nation over the next four years, compared with 32% of Democrats.
👉 Explore the full results and analysis to see what Texas voters said about the election, their policy priorities and the state’s future.
How Voters Responded to 13 Candidate Positions
Eleven of 13 Positions Draw More Than Two-Thirds of Texas
Share saying a candidate holding each position would make them much or somewhat more likely to vote for that candidate.
The poll also tested voters’ reactions to 13 policy positions a candidate might hold, revealing broad agreement on several issues.
The big picture: Education outcomes and affordability dominate the issues most likely to earn voters’ support.
By the numbers:
- Ensuring students read and do math at grade level: 85%
- Reducing healthcare prices: 83%
- Preparing high school graduates for college or a career: 83%
- Reducing electricity bills: 82%
- Building needed water infrastructure: 81%
- Reducing homeowners’ insurance costs: 79%
Zoom in: Unaffiliated and Undecided voters ranked these positions in largely the same order as the electorate overall.
Childcare and public education funding ranked somewhat higher among them, while border security, crime and some affordability issues ranked lower. But none of those differences are large enough to distinguish clearly at this sample size.
“The voters who remain unaffiliated and undecided don’t appear to care about a fundamentally different set of issues. What stands out is how much their priorities resemble those of the electorate overall.”
– Dr. Tracy Ayrhart, Vice President of Data and Research
Our Methodology
The 10th Texas Voter Poll was conducted Aug. 22-26, 2026, by Baselice & Associates for Texas 2036. It consisted of 1,369 completed interviews with registered Texas voters.
Results were weighted to represent registered voters statewide, with an effective sample size after weighting of 1,001. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
Have You Made Up Your Mind?
Texas voters told us how they’re approaching the November election. Now it’s your turn.
Take our quick reader pulse check to share how settled your choices are and see how your answers compare with voters across the state.
