A year in jail for a THC snack? Texans are unhappy with Republicans | Opinion
Texans are sick of our elected officials.
But probably not sick enough to get rid of any of them.
We don’t like any of our state leaders, according to a University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll of 1,200 voters.
Most of all, we don’t like U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.
This stunning survey came June 6-16, after the Texas Legislature mercifully went home but before Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s wacked-out idea of throwing people in prison for a year for a single THC drink, gummy or chocolate.
More than half the voters polled — 53% — hated the ban. Only 31% favored it.
Texans soundly disapprove of six top leaders:
Cruz: 49% disapprove, 28% approve.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn: 46% disapprove, 24% approve.
Gov. Greg Abbott: 45% disapprove, 41% approve (notably, the highest approval).
Attorney General Ken Paxton: 43% disapprove, 29% approve.
Patrick: 42% disapprove, 30% approve.
House Speaker Dustin Burrows: 31% disapprove, 16% approve.
Notably, the Texas voters polled also disapproved of President Donald Trump, 51%-44%, although that was before a U.S. attack on Iran that led to a rapid ceasefire in the Israel-Iran war.
Does any of this mean Democrats are about to win their first statewide office in 32 years, or their first statewide U.S. Senate election in 38?
No.
The 40%-50% who “disapprove” of current officials came both from Democrats — 42% of voters polled — and the 35% of voters who said current elected officials are “not conservative enough.”
In other words, Abbott is positioned squarely in the middle of Texas voters, and other Republicans are only a half-click to the right.
In the same poll where voters said Republicans aren’t conservative enough, 41% of voters said Texas Democratic officials are “not liberal enough.”
So we’re all cheering for less collaboration and more partisan gridlock.
The downturn in Trump’s rating — he was at 38% disapproval in February and 45% in April —is not really a surprise, according to poll director Jim Henson of the Texas Politics Project, a UT research effort.
Trump still has positive ratings statewide for border control and immigration enforcement. But not for anything else, particularly prices and the economy.
For Trump, the numbers are “neither a sign of collapse nor that hard to understand,” Henson wrote.
Trump is favored by 85% of Republicans. But he had lost independents. By now, they probably like him again.
If there’s an ominous sign for Republicans in the poll, it may be for the first time in at least 16 years, less of half of voters think Texas is well-run.
Leaders used to brag about the “Texas Miracle” and how other states should be more like Texas.
Now, only 45% of voters agree. A few were undecided, but 43% of voters said, “Copy Texas? Uh — no.”
Some of those discontented voters may have been in the crowd of about 6,500 that welcomed Vermont independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and El Paso Democrat Beto O’Rourke on June 22 in Fort Worth.
But the last time the same poll asked voters about O’Rourke. a solid 50% rated him as not just as unfavorable but “very unfavorable.”
If you think Texas voters are mad at Republicans, just ask what they think of Democrats.
This story was originally published June 26, 2025 at 11:11 AM.
