TSU Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center Report Finds Deep Policy Rift Between Texas Democratic and Republican Primary Voters

A new report by Texas Southern University’s Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center reveals profound differences in policy preferences between Texas Democratic and Republican primary voters. The report draws on two August surveys of 1,500 likely 2026 Republican primary voters and of 1,500 likely 2026 Democratic primary voters.

The data in the report help explain why Texas legislation in policy areas such as abortion, firearms, marijuana and transgender rights tends to be notably more conservative than that preferred by the average Texan. In addition, the report highlights the starkly divergent policy preferences between Texas Democratic and Republican primary voters regarding the deportation of immigrants who are in the country illegally and birthright citizenship for their U.S. born children.

In Texas abortion is only legally permitted if the pregnant woman’s life is at risk. Texas Republican primary voters are largely supportive of this status quo, with 37% not in favor of any liberalization of Texas abortion legislation at all and 68% not supportive of any loosening of restrictions other than permitting abortion in the rare cases where the pregnancy is the result of rape. In sharp contrast, 84% of Texas Democratic primary voters would, at the least, like to return to the status quo of the past decade when abortion was legal in Texas for any reason through 20 weeks of pregnancy, with 97% believing that Texas’s current abortion legislation is too restrictive. 

Dr. Michael O. Adams, the founding director of the Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center at Texas Southern University, also highlighted the dramatic differences which exist between Democratic and Republican primary voters in the area of legislation regulating the sale of firearms in Texas, noting that “more than nine out of ten Democratic primary voters, but only one in four Republican primary voters, would like to see the Texas Legislature make Texas gun laws more strict.”

The report also finds notable differences between Republican and Democratic primary voters in their policy preferences regarding the deportation of undocumented immigrants and birthright citizenship. While 47% of Republican primary voters believe all undocumented immigrants should be deported, the same is true for only 3% of Democratic primary voters. And, though more than nine out of ten of both Democratic (98%) and Republican (92%) primary voters believe people born in the United States to parents who immigrated legally should be considered U.S. citizens, the two sets of primary voters disagree sharply about the citizenship status of people born in the United States to parents who immigrated illegally, with 87% of Democrats, but only 24% of Republicans, saying these people should be considered U.S. citizens. That is, more than three out of four (76%) Republican primary voters believe that the U.S. born children of people who immigrated illegally should not be eligible for birthright citizenship.

Among Other Findings:

• 70% of Democratic primary voters, but only 34% of Republican primary voters, believe that marijuana should be legal for recreational and medical use in Texas.
• 93% of Democratic primary voters and 79% of Republican primary voters believe that marijuana should be legal for medical use in Texas.
• 92% of Democratic primary voters, but only 24% of Republican primary voters, think that the laws governing gun sales in Texas should be more strict.
• 58% of Republican primary voters, but only 7% of Democratic primary voters, think that the laws governing gun sales in Texas should be kept as they are now.
• 18% of Republican primary voters, but only 1% of Democratic primary voters, think that the laws governing gun sales in Texas should be less strict.
• 80% of Republican primary voters, but only 33% of Democratic primary voters, support a ban on transgender girls and women from participating in female sports events in Texas high schools and colleges.

The full report can be found here:

The representative survey of Texas registered voters upon which the report is based was conducted between August 6 and August 12 2025, in English and Spanish. The two separate surveys of 1,500 Republican and of 1,500 Democratic likely 2026 primary voters each have a margin of error of +/- 2.53%.