AUSTIN (KXAN) – People are showing up to the polls like never before in a Texas midterm. It’s a reflection of competitive elections with compelling candidates. The turnout also shows the impact of the best-funded get out the vote efforts in Texas history. But what issues are motivating people to vote?
A new poll from the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas, in partnership with the Texas Tribune asked Texas voters to name the most important issues facing the state. The answers reveal what’s motivating many people to go to the polls.
And the answers tend to fall along political lines. Republicans named immigration as the most important problem facing Texas. Border security was a close second. “That clearly makes the current discussion at the national level a pretty good one for Republicans to be having right now,” said James Henson of the Texas Politics Project.
Health care came in a distant third among Republicans. It ranked second for Democrats. “Clearly we’re seeing that in races across the country and races in Texas, the big Democratic issue,” Henson said. “A little less dissatisfaction among Republicans.”
The poll showed political corruption as the top concern for Democrats. “We’ve seen this in the past where the party that is in power generates this suspicion among the partisans about their political opponents,” Henson explained. “President Trump is at the center of that. There’s really no error there, very little ambiguity among the partisans.”
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