Political | Process

55% percent of respondents said the national economy is worse than it was a year ago. That figure includes 25% of Democrats, 51% of independents and 80% of Republicans.

Tweet

• The data indicates that Texans are still reeling from the economic fallout of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to Joshua Blank, research director for the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.

• “When it comes to evaluations of the state economy, Democrats and Republicans view it equally negatively relative to a year ago,” Blank said. “It just reflects the reality on the ground here, that no political posturing can paper over, which is the fact that we’re still recovering from the economic consequences of the pandemic. And that has hit everybody regardless of your partisan affiliation.”

• About one in three Texas voters said their personal economic situation is worse now than it was a year ago. Just 20% indicated being better off, and 43% said they were doing “about the same.”

• Pluralities of Texas voters across racial groups reported they were doing “about the same” economically compared to a year ago. That evaluation included 43% of white respondents, 51% of Black respondents, 43% of Hispanic respondents and 61% of Asian respondents.

• Considering the pandemic significantly impacted people of color, Blank said the high levels of “about the same” responses are “almost equivalent” to a negative rating.

• “The political context here is we’re not in a state of ‘the Texas miracle.’ This is not 2012, when we’re sitting here pounding our chests saying, ‘Hey, Texas is fine,’” Blank said, referring to Texas’ relative resilience after the Great Recession.

• “You can’t look at these data and say, ‘Yeah, we’ve come out of the pandemic stronger.’ Or that we’re even out of the pandemic as far as all of its consequences are concerned.”

SOURCE: WASHINGTONEXAMINER