ICYMI: The Texas Politics Project Poll
50% of Texas voters say the impeachment of Ken Paxton was justified
View this email in your browser
New UT/Texas Politics Project Poll: Half of Texas voters say the impeachment of Ken Paxton was justified
HI All,
Today we’re expecting another chapter in the history-making impeachment and trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton as the Texas Senate considers the rules for Paxton’s trial. As a nod to the historical nature of today’s Senate action and Paxton’s impeachment – the first ever of a Texas Attorney General – we are releasing results related to Paxton’s impeachment from a new University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll ahead of our scheduled release of complete poll results later this week. The statewide poll was conducted June 2-12 among 1200 registered voters.
When asked directly whether or not they thought Paxton’s impeachment by the Texas House was justified, Texans were divided, though a majority, 50%, said the impeachment was justified. Only 17% said it was not justified, and a third had no opinion.
The results among key groups reveal sharp divisions among Republicans likely to be courted by stakeholders as Paxton’s fate is decided by the Senate and, of course, by the presiding officer of the chamber, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick:
Republicans as a group are almost evenly split: 31% said the impeachment was justified, 30% thought it was not, and the plurality, 39%, expressed no opinion or didn’t know.
Among self-identified conservatives, the shares were similar: 32% thought the impeachment justified, 31% not justified, and 37% expressed no opinion.
Those who identify as “extremely conservative” were somewhat less likely than Republicans or conservatives overall to think the House’s indictment of Paxton was justified. Among this group, 26% said the House’s action was justified, while nearly half (46%) said it was unjustified; 28% had no opinion.
The views of independents reflect both their lower attention to politics as well as their larger skepticism or even aversion to politics evident among independents as a group: 40% thought the impeachment was justified, 15% unjustified, and the plurality, 44%, didn’t express an opinion.
Paxton's job approval ratings declined from 39% approve / 35% disapprove (net +4) in April to 30% approve / 41% disapprove (net -11) in June, the lowest we’ve ever registered in Texas Politics Project polling.
Paxton’s job approval among Republicans decreased by 14 percentage points, from 65% approve / 13% disapprove (net +52) in April to 51% approve / 19% disapprove (net +32) in June.
Among self-identified conservatives, 50% approved of the job Paxton has done, while 23% disapproved, compared to 62% approve / 10% disapprove in April.
Among independents, 21% approved and 40% disapproved, compared to 18% approve / 40% disapprove in April.
The latest University of Texas / Texas Politics Project Poll was conducted June 2-12 among 1,200 self-identified registered voters in Texas. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is +/- 2.83%. A topline document for the results related to Ken Paxton can be found here, while detailed cross-tabs will be released when all of the data is released.
We’ll release the remaining results from the June poll this Thursday, June 22. Topics covered by the poll include Texans’ assessments and expectations of the Legislature’s actions on issues including property taxes, the reliability of the grid, public education, educational savings accounts, border security, immigration, and other priorities. Subscribe to the Second Reading Podcast on your preferred platform for a discussion of the results among the Texas Politics Project Poll team also coming later this week.
In the meantime, thanks for your interest, and, if you’re in Texas, good luck managing the hot weather. Keep in touch.
Best,
JH
Jim Henson
Executive Director, The Texas Politics Project
College of Liberal Arts / Department of Government
The University of Texas at Austin
Copyright © 2023 The Texas Politics Project at UT-Austin, All rights reserved.