How we view the future on Texas’ Independence Day!

This is a preview of our Texas 2036 newsletter about voters’ responses to our Texas Voter Poll about their concerns for the future. To receive this weekly highlight of our work, sign up here.

Texas 2036’s sixth Texas Voter Poll is here. We break down more of the top takeaways from our poll results. But first…

Happy Birthday, Texas! 🎉

At Texas 2036, we’re taking today to celebrate the 30 million Texans going about their daily lives, contributing in ways large and small to the ongoing miracle known as Texas.

A Texas Birthday Gift From Us To You: 🎁
Our Birthday Message to All Texans

So spare a thought today for your fellow Texans and what they’re doing to make this state the best place to live and work now and in the decades to come. While you’re at it, maybe take a moment to ask yourself what else you can do to make Texas better.

We’re releasing today the second set of results from our Texas Voter Poll, gauging voters’ thoughts on the affordability and accessibility of services key to their daily lives, such as:

• Quality child care: 70% do not think working Texans have access to affordable child care options.
• Housing: More than three in four Texas voters worry about both the cost of housing and recent price spikes putting a house further out of reach for middle class Texans.
• Health care: 76% of Texas voters backed allowing advanced practice nurses to provide more primary care in areas of the state experiencing a shortage in primary care.
  • Did you know? 224 of Texas’ 254 counties are classified as primary care shortage areas, meaning that there are not enough doctors available to meet the needs of the population. That’s 88% of Texas counties!

Texas voters also strongly back ensuring rigor in the public education curriculum.

• 73% favored requiring schools to use instructional materials that have been reviewed by the state and shown to be higher quality.
  • Did you know? A recent analysis by the Texas Education Agency found that only 19% of surveyed reading assignments in Texas elementary schools were on grade level.
• 69% were against eliminating standardized testing of U.S. history.

About the poll: Originally launched in 2020, our Texas Voter Poll assesses general attitudes about the state. This is the sixth edition.

• This survey of 1,000 registered Texas voters gauges public support for non-partisan policies and lays out a roadmap for state leaders to strengthen voter confidence and move Texas forward.

A Texas Birthday Gift From Us To You: 🎁
Our Birthday Message to All Texans

It takes all of us to make this work

Between the issues listed above and the chance to tap the state’s historic $32.7 billion revenue surplus to make generational investments in areas like water infrastructure and community colleges, the Legislature has no shortage of opportunities this year to act on a broad range of items strongly backed by the electorate.

• 65% — the portion of Texas voters who told us state lawmakers are doing an excellent, good or fair job solving problems and serving the needs of Texans.

Texas voters, though, also told us that the job of making the state the best that it can be doesn’t fall just on the shoulders of the Legislature but, to a large degree, all of us.

Here are the numbers:

• 44% of Texas voters said elected officials can do the best to improve the state. That breaks down to:
  • 26% named state officials.
  • 18% named local officials.
• 30% of Texas voters said regular people are best positioned to improve the state.
• Voters also said they trusted business leaders (6%), faith leaders (5%) or nonprofit organizations (4%) to improve Texas.

Trust in law enforcement  ⚖️

For Texas to be the best place to live and work, public safety, which is predicated on trust in law enforcement, is critical.

Texas voters still solidly trust local law enforcement to handle crime and public safety issues. Our survey found:

• 63% of Texas voters said they trusted local law enforcement.

To maintain trust, Texas lawmakers have the chance this legislative session to make needed reforms to what law enforcement agencies must report when an officer is fired for misconduct.

The current system, as reported by Texas 2036, does not work as intended to address the problem of wandering officers — peace officers who are fired from one agency for cause and then find work at another.

Our survey found that voters want the system reformed, though, not abolished.

• Fully 77% of Texas voters said their trust in law enforcement would decrease if police departments simply stopped reporting officer misconduct.

A Texas Birthday Gift From Us To You: 🎁
Our Birthday Message to All Texans

Who do you think can do the best to improve Texas?

We want to know who you trust most to move the state forward!