TEXAS (KXAN) On Wednesday, The Texas Politics Project, or TPP, released its latest poll results about Texans’ attitudes toward state and federal leaders, as well as their thoughts on public policy.

The poll was conducted between June 6 and 16, and had 1,200 respondents. It is conducted every other month.

Who responded?

The average respondent of the survey is white (58%), was born in Texas (66%), lived in the suburbs (52%), had no children (65%), said religion was important to them (68%) but seldom attended services (58% attended two or fewer in a year), was married or in a domestic partnership (54%), owned their home (73%), had an interest in politics (84%), and were not veterans nor had an immediate family member who served (75%).

The survey had a fairly balanced mix of men (46%) and women (54%). The 45-64 age group had the largest share of respondents at 35%, followed by 30-44 at 25%, 65+ at 23% and 18-29 at 17%.

Educational attainment covered a range: 45% had a high school diploma or GED, 12% had a two-year degree, 27% had a four-year degree, and 13% had a post-graduate degree. For annual household income, 18% of respondents said they earned less than $30,000, while 46% were between $30,000 and $100,000. Twenty-six percent earned more than $100,000.

Only 9% of respondents lived in the Austin metro, 10% lived in San Antonio, 24% in Dallas-Fort Worth, 23% in Houston.

Party affiliation of respondents broke down into 42% identified as Democrats and 47% identified as Republicans. But most said they didn’t like the Democratic (58%) or Republican (52%) parties.

What are the biggest problems?

Respondents’ top issue facing Texas and the nation? Political corruption/leadership.

More than half of respondents said they felt the country was on the wrong track (54%). The TPP’s high-water mark for this data point came in February, when 48% of respondents said the country was on the right track.

They also said inflation and immigration were their second and third most important problems of the day. Nationally, respondents said they didn’t feel that drug abuse, the Middle East, Russia, energy or gas prices were problems.

Similarly, 51% said the economy was worse than a year ago. Thirty-eight percent also said they expect the economy to worsen over the next year, but 35% said it would get better. Respondent’s biggest points of economic concern include the cost of healthcare, food, consumer goods, and housing.

Feelings about Trump’s 2nd term

President Donald Trump’s approval hit its first majority disapproval (51%) on a TPP poll since the start of his latest term. He’s actually doing the same as he was in June 2017, six months into his first term.

In the February 2025 poll, 52% said they approved of the returning President.

Border security was the President’s only policy that respondents said they approved of, at 51%. Respondents also said they heard a lot (72%) or some (21%) about deportations by the federal government.

When asked about legal immigration, a plurality of respondents consistently say that too many people immigrate to the US. Typically, a million people legally immigrate into the US each year, which is around 0.29% of the US population.

A majority (51%) said that undocumented immigrants should be “deported immediately.” However, they also said that authorities shouldn’t target immigrants at hospitals (63%), at immigration status hearings (59%), at church (62%), at school (69%), or who were allowed into the US as asylum seekers (62%).

Trump’s policies that a slight majority of respondents disapproved of include economic policy, inflation and government spending. Most respondents said they worried tariffs would cause prices to increase, and hurt their families and the economy.

In the 2024 presidential election, 47% of respondents said they’d voted for Trump. Thirty-eight percent had voted for Kamala Harris, and 13% didn’t vote. All respondents said they were registered to vote.

Thoughts on Texas leaders

Approval of Gov. Greg Abbott has been positive since August 2022. However, the June poll saw him only reach a 41% approval with a 45% disapproval; 12% landed in the middle.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has always seen a roughly 10 point lag behind Abbott on the TPP polls. In the June results, only 30% approved of him.

Texas House of Representatives Speaker Dustin Burrows, who was elected to the seat in January, has his first post-legislative session scores. Most (31%) disapproved, but 29% said they didn’t know and 25% said they neither approved nor disapproved. Only 16% said they approved of his work.

Texas’ legislators saw a 26% approval rate and 45% disapproval. These scores are worse than they were following the state’s 2023 legislative session: 33% approved and 40% disapproved. Most respondents said they either weren’t following the 2025 session closely (38%) or at all (16%). As for the session’s impact, 37% said they felt their lives would be worse because of their state lawmakers.

Still, most respondents feel that Texas’ government is a model that others should follow.

The poll also asked about Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Forty-three percent of respondents said they didn’t approve of him. Less than a third of respondents approved (29%) of his work.

US Senator John Cornyn, who will face a primary challenge from Paxton, has slightly worse rates than the AG. Cornyn’s approval sits at 24% and disapproval at 46%. His approval has been falling since 2024, when it hovered around a third of respondents.

Texas’ other Senator, Ted Cruz, has better name recognition than Cornyn. Nearly half (49%) disapprove of him while 38% approve.

All of the leaders named above are Republicans. Republican respondents said that their party’s elected officials were conservative enough (37%), not enough (35%), or too conservative (17%).

Respondents answered if they felt Texas was going in the right direction similarly to how they felt about the nation — 50% said Texas was heading in the wrong direction. October 2018 was the last time 50% of respondents said their state was headed in a good direction.

None of the respondents felt that redistricting, electoral fraud, gas prices were problems for Texas.

Other issues

The US Supreme Court’s approval rate ebbs and flows across the polls. But on this most recent survey — conducted prior to its June rulings — 45% disapproved and 28% approved.

As for the US Congress, its ratings were typical across the years of data: Most respondents don’t approve. But, a typically sized group were ambivalent (19%) or didn’t know (3%). Just 23% of June respondents said they approve of Congress.

The pollsters asked about Elon Musk. His net favorability fell 20 points since April 2025 to hit 53% unfavorable — in December 2024, he had 54% favorability. The recent results could reflect his recent work for the Trump Administration and subsequent fall from grace.

These results also include TPP’s first data about AI; 72% said they were concerned about the new technology’s impact in the economy. Only 25% said they weren’t concerned.

On abortion access, 46% said they supported access, while 38% said they did not. Around 16% said they didn’t know or didn’t support either position.

The survey also included a question about biblical literalism; 29% said the Bible should be taken literally, 41% said it was the word of God but not taken literally, and 24% said it was the work of men and shouldn’t be read literally.