Texas voters worried about health care costs as midterm primary approaches

Health care workforce shortage

The Mayo Clinic says hospitals across the country could see thousands of physician openings. To help close that gap, Southwestern University is sending students into hospitals now.

AUSTIN, Texas - The cost of health care is top of mind for Texas voters as they prepare to head to the polls during the consequential midterm election this year.

Data from the final University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll of 2025, conducted in December, was released last week and revealed a bleak view of the economy.

Voters ‘very concerned’ about health care costs

The poll found that 67% of voters said they were "very concerned" about the cost of health care, including 83% of Democrats, 62% of independents and 56% of Republicans.

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Only 12% of voters polled said they "approve strongly" of President Donald Trump’s handling of health care. That number included 19% of Republicans who said they disapproved of Trump’s performance on the issue.

Most voters also said they disapproved of how Texas leaders and the Legislature have handled the health care issue, with 35% saying they "disapprove strongly."

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Sour view of economy

Texas voters generally have a negative view of the economy’s direction, with 49% of those surveyed saying that the national economy is worse off than it was a year ago. Only 34% said the economy is doing better.

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"Views on the Texas economy remain slightly less sour than views of the national economy, but also remain in slightly negative territory: 42% of Texas voters say that the state economy is performing worse than a year ago, while only 29% say it is improving," pollsters wrote in their report about the data.

Expectations about the future of the economy were mixed, with 39% predicting the economy will be worse a year from now and 37% predicting improvement.

Those economic opinions pretty much split along partisan lines, with Republicans more optimistic and Democrats more pessimistic.

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Senate, Congressional races

As part of this poll, Texas voters were asked about the hotly contested U.S. Senate race. 

Incumbent Sen. John Cornyn is facing a tough challenge from embattled Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Republican primary. In the survey, 50% of Texas Republicans view Paxton favorably, while 38% of Republicans have a favorable view of Cornyn.

On the Democratic side, U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett is running against State Rep. James Talarico for the party’s nomination. Crockett is viewed favorably by 70% of Democrats, while 46% of Democrats held the same view of Talarico.

On a generic Congressional ballot, Republicans hold a slight edge over Democrats, with 41% of Texas voters saying they would vote for the Republican candidate in their district and 39% saying they would vote for the Democratic candidate.

(FOX Local)