Detainees wait in Brownsville, Texas, in a holding cell at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility. (June 18 photo by Eric Gay-Pool/Getty Images)
Immigration and border security have displaced education as the top issue facing the state, according to the eighth annual Texas Lyceum Poll.
In the nonpartisan poll, released Tuesday, 31 percent of adults said immigration or border security is the most important issue, compared with 11 percent who said education. Eight percent cited either jobs and unemployment or the economy.
The results ran opposite to voters’ ranking of national concerns, said the group’s pollster, University of Texas political scientist Daron Shaw. At the national level, 20 percent of adult Texans cite the economy and jobs as the top issue, compared with just 11 percent calling it immigration or border security.
“This is probably the most dramatic instance in which border security and immigration issues are dominating economic mentions — at least with respect to the state, not the nation,” Shaw told reporters.
The poll consisted of telephone interviews with 1,000 Texas adults that were conducted between Sept. 9 and Sept. 25. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percent.
The survey tested attitudes on the recent influx of tens of thousands of unaccompanied children from Central America into Texas, after they made often-harrowing journeys across Mexico.
Texans clashed on whether the children should be returned to their home country as soon as possible, with 48 percent of respondents agreeing while 42 percent said they should be permitted to stay in the U.S. while awaiting an immigration hearing, even if it takes a long time.
Among the 666 likely voters who were interviewed, support for immediate return of the children jumped to 58 percent, with 37 percent saying the youngsters should be allowed to stay for a time.
Immigrants who have been caught crossing the border illegally are housed inside the McAllen Border Patrol Station in McAllen. Detainees are mostly separated by gender and age, except for infants. (July 15 pool photo by Rick Loomis/Getty Images)
Along lines of party affiliation and racial or ethnic identity, the differences were even more stark. Among Democrats, 64 percent want the children to be allowed to stay, while 73 percent of Republicans favored returning them to their country as soon as possible. Among independents, who accounted for 22 percent of adults interviewed, sentiment was roughly equal: Forty-five percent want the children to stay; 44 percent, to leave immediately.
While blacks were fairly evenly divided among the two camps, whites and Hispanics were not. Among whites, 62 percent said the children should be returned to their home country, compared with only 28 percent who would allow them to stay. Among Hispanics, though, 58 percent supported letting them stay in the U.S. awaiting a hearing while 33 percent would send them home as soon as possible.
“Although the majority response sides with law and order, we do see that the attitudes of Texans depend on context,” Shaw said. “If immigration is framed in terms of caring for children, our willingness to compromise increases.”
The poll, a summary of which can be viewed here, also examined attitudes on abortion. Earlier this month, state Sen. Wendy Davis, the Democratic nominee for governor, revealed she had two abortions. One was after an ectopic pregnancy, which is commonly viewed as life threatening; and the other, after the fetus was found to have a severe abnormality known as Dandy-Walker syndrome.
By better than 3-to-1 margins, Texas adults said abortion should be legal if the woman’s health is seriously endangered or she became pregnant because of rape. For pregnancies resulting from incest, 68 percent supported allowing abortion as an option, while 24 percent opposed doing so. When there is “a strong chance of a serious defect in the baby,” 54 percent said a woman should be able to obtain an abortion and 31 percent said she should not.
“Most people, Republicans included, say women ought to have an abortion option under those circumstances,” Shaw said. “When you start talking about more choice-oriented, situational circumstances, support drops and you begin to see some of the partisan differences really show.”
For instance, when asked if it should be possible for a pregnant woman to obtain a legal abortion if she is unmarried and doesn’t want to marry the man, just 24 percent of Republicans agreed. Among both Democrats and independents, support was considerably higher — 44 percent — though still below a majority. Only about a third of all adults favored legal abortion if married women want no more children or the family is poor and says it can’t afford more children.
On the federal health care overhaul, the poll found 48 percent of Texas adults have an unfavorable opinion, versus 33 percent with a favorable attitude.
“Opinion is pretty static here,” Shaw said, noting the state results are comparable to national polls. “There is not a lot going on.”
On Wednesday, the Lyceum, a group of 96 people touted as “the next generation of Texas leaders,” will release horse race numbers in the statewide contests on the Nov. 4 ballot. Also divulged will be results of questions about Gov. Rick Perry and President Barack Obama, as well as about Perry’s recent indictment for coercion and misuse of his post in connection with a budget line-item veto threat last year.