UT Poll Shows What Abbott Discovered
in Deliberations on THC Ban Before Veto
Capitol Inside
June 25, 2025
GOP leaders in the Lone Star State saw their popularity take a dip in the wake of a legislative session they all hailed as historic when a University of Texas poll that was released on Tuesday found their approval ratings on the decline in line with President Donald Trump's here in the first half of June.
The Texas Politics Project survey of 1,200 registered voters found overwhelming opposition to a THC ban that Governor Greg Abbott put to rest late Sunday night when he vetoed Senate Bill 3. Abbott wants lawmakers to design a regulatory plan for the hemp industry in a special session that he's set to begin on July 21.
Abbott said he killed SB 3 because it would have been doomed in the courts. But Abbott has relied more on polling than any political leader ever in Texas. That had to play a major role in the decision to torpedo the THC ban out with the red pen as the prelude for the special session next month.
The UT poll provided a glimpse into the numbers that Abbott's pollsters discovered in the run up to the SB 3 veto. The survey from June 6 to June 16 found 53 percent of Texas voters opposed to the THC prohibition that Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick championed in SB 3. Only 31 percent favored the ban that all of the Republican lawmakers in Austin voted to enact in a move that would have shut down an entire industry while putting more than 50,000 Texans out of work.
Texas House leaders devised a plan to regulate the sale of hemp products with THC in the regular session that ended on June 2. But House Republicans junked the leadership proposal and embraced the Patrick ban in a panic after he threatened to hold legislation they'd sponsored hostage if they defied him on THC.
While a majority of Republicans have endorsed the legalization of marijuana in recent national polls, 46 percent of the GOP voters in the UT poll for June said they supported the Patrick ban compared to 39 percent who opposed it. But it's important to note that the survey was conducted before the governor revealed his position on the SB 3 prohibition. That could give the numbers bumps in both directions.
Abbott ended up underwater in the Texas Politics Project survey with 41 percent who approved of his performance as the governor while 44 percent gave him a thumbs down. Abbott earned positive nods from 44 percent in the UT poll in April when 43 percent disapproved.
Patrick, who had 36 percent approval and disapproval marks alike in April, did not fare as well in June when only 30 percent gave him a positive rating compared to 42 percent who weren't impressed. Less than half of the respondents in the UT poll this month had an opinion on first-term Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows, a Lubbock Republican who registered a 16 percent approval mark compared to 31 percent who disapproved of his work. Burrows saw a 2 point drop in approval ratings from April while his negative score was up 3 points.
Trump won votes of approval from 44 percent of the voters in the university survey compared to 51 percent who disapproved. Trump's approval scores have gone from 52 percent in Texas in February to 47 percent in April to the current mark of 44 percent - a fall of 7 points in four months.
more to come ...
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