Political Science

Center for Opinion Research

May 2023 Poll Results

The May survey by UT Tyler is the second poll that has studied the views of Texas voters during the 2023 legislative session. The survey also includes 1,413 registered voters who answered questions between May 10 and May 21 to provide insights to how the public views public policy debates in Austin.

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The Department of Political Science & History hosts the Center for Opinion Research, which includes a professional survey center with 25 work stations for students to learn about survey research by experiencing how the data is collected. Our studies contribute to a better understanding of Texas and the public's perceptions about topics. We have also published results in academic journals in political science and public health.

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Methodology

The UT-Tyler Poll is a statewide random sample of 1,413 registered voters conducted between May 10 and 21. The mixed-mode sample includes 509 registered voters surveyed over the phone by the University of Texas at Tyler with support from Promark Research and ReconMR. These individuals were randomly sampled from the list of registered voters in Texas. Another 904 registered voters were randomly selected from Dynata’s panel of online respondents. The margin of sampling error that includes design effects from this poll is plus or minus 3.0 percentage points for a 95% confidence interval.

The online and phone surveys were conducted in English and Spanish. Using information from the 2022 Current Population Survey and Office of the Texas Secretary of State. The sample’s gender, age, race/ethnicity, education, metropolitan density and vote choice were matched to the population of registered voters in Texas.

Post-stratification weights were calculated for the random telephone sample and web sample separately to be representative of the Texas registered voter population, before the two weighted samples were combined into one standardized sample (see Elliott 2009). To balance sample demographics with the estimated gender, age, race/ethnicity, and education of registered voters in the state we use an iterated process known as raking. These parameters were derived from 2022 Current Population Survey to reflect Texas’s electorate. Also, to account for the influence of urbanization on voter registration the sample is also weighted to reflect the population density of the state using the counts of registered voters in all 254 counties based on data from the Texas Secretary of State. Election data from the Texas Secretary of State is also used to reflect voting patterns in the state.  The use of these weights in statistical analysis ensures that the characteristics of the sample closely reflect the characteristics of registered voters in Texas. A second step uses weights from the probability phone sample to standardize the weights for the non-probability online sample to reduce sampling bias (see Elliott 2009).

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Archive of Past Studies