When Texas 2036 asked voters last month which candidate positions would most move their vote, education issues rose to the top, but not in the way most would expect. Out of 13 positions tested, spanning everything from data center growth to school funding, two education items came out on top by a wide margin:
- 85% of Texas voters said they’d be more likely to support a candidate who commits to “ensuring all Texas students can read and do math at grade level.”
- 83% said the same about “ensuring Texas high school students graduate ready for college or a career.”
This isn’t a new concern surfacing for the first time. These results are the culmination of a trend Texas 2036 has tracked since 2021.
Every version of a grade-level proficiency question we’ve tested over the past five years (across seven separate polls) has cleared 65% support.
In 2023, when we asked whether school ratings should include grade-level reading and math benchmarks, voters backed the idea at 86% and 83%, respectively. By fall of last year, 94% of voters told us they were concerned to learn that only about half of Texas students are performing on grade level.
Holding Candidates Accountable For Education Outcomes
What was different about our poll questions this year was the framing. We moved from testing grade-level proficiency as a school-accountability metric to testing it as a candidate position. Texas voters made clear: they strongly favor candidates who improve reading, math and college and career outcomes for Texas students.
Candidates who lead with outcomes — grade-level reading and math, college and career readiness — are speaking the language voters actually respond to.
The 10th Texas Voter Poll was conducted Aug. 22–26, 2026, by Baselice & Associates for Texas 2036, consisting of 1,369 completed interviews with registered Texas voters. Results were weighted to represent registered Texas voters statewide with an effective sample size after weighting of 1,001. Margin of sampling error is ±3.1 percentage points.
