UTSA polling center releases voter opinion survey results

SEPTEMBER 23, 2024 — A scientific survey of registered voters in Bexar County says that two city charter amendments have low support among voters and there is no early leader in the 2025 San Antonio mayoral race. Additionally, voters have mixed opinions about new San Antonio Spurs and San Antonio Missions facilities according to the Bexar County Registered Voter Poll, which was conducted from September 11 to 16, 2024 by the UTSA Center for Public Opinion Research (CPOR).

Established in Fall 2023, CPOR is a full-scale, academic public opinion research center that produces and facilitates basic and applied opinion research broadening shared understanding of important political and governance issues.

“The Center for Public Opinion Research aims to provide valuable insight on a broad array of topics impacting residents in our city, our region and our state,” said Bryan Gervais, UTSA associate professor of political science and CPOR director. “An ongoing and systematic understanding of how residents feel about key issues has the potential to fuel stronger community engagement and create opportunities for our city, our region and our residents to work together toward shared goals.”

CPOR’s September 2024 poll queried 692 registered Bexar County voters to gain their thoughts and opinions about San Antonio’s charter amendments, their familiarity with candidates running in the city’s 2025 mayoral race, and their perceptions around the possibility of new downtown sports facilities. This poll was administered in English and Spanish.

“As the nation approaches the Presidential election with less than 50 days remaining, understanding voter sentiment is essential.”

Key highlights:

• More than 80% of San Antonio voters remain unfamiliar with the charter amendments they will be asked to consider on the November 5, 2024 ballot. These include a proposal to increase baseline salaries for city council members and the mayor and a proposal to remove caps on the salary and the number of years the city manager can serve.
  
  
• When asked how they would vote on each amendment, more than 50% of San Antonio voters said they would not vote to raise the salaries of council members and the mayor. The report also highlights that about 70% of voters said they would not vote for removing city manager caps.
  
  
• Among San Antonio voters who indicated they were at least somewhat likely to vote in the May 2025 municipal election, more than 42% of these voters said they were not familiar with any of the candidates and another 27% said they didn’t know how they would vote. Among five candidates who have declared their candidacies to replace Mayor Ron Nirenberg, Councilman John Courage had the highest support, with about 9% saying they would vote for him.
  
  
• Bexar County voters expressed limited support for a new basketball arena in downtown San Antonio. UTSA’s survey showed that 41% of voters said they would not be in favor of a new Spurs arena moving to downtown San Antonio. About 36% said they were in favor, almost 12% had no opinion and about 11% were not sure.
  
  
• Voters also expressed limited support for a minor league baseball facility in downtown San Antonio. About 40% of voters said they would be in favor of a new ballpark for the San Antonio Missions, and 35% said they would not be in favor of this. The rest of the poll’s respondents were not sure or did not have an opinion.
  
  
• The September survey results showed a surge in support for Democratic candidates in Bexar County following the selection of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee in August. The poll results indicate that over 53% of voters in San Antonio and Bexar County support Harris while around 35% back Donald J. Trump. This is a notable shift from CPOR’s foundational poll in June, when 40% favored Joe Biden and 36% supported Trump.
  
  
• In the U.S. Senate race, challenger Colin Allred is leading incumbent Ted Cruz among Bexar County voters, 44% to 29%.
  
  
• When asked whether San Antonio, the state and the nation are moving in the right direction, the poll’s respondents indicated they had more confidence that San Antonio was going in the right direction (44%) compared to the nation (24%). Similarly, more San Antonio voters trust the local government to do what is right just about always or some of the time (44%) while fewer (22%) trust the federal government.

CPOR will conduct another survey in late October to further evaluate the insights of registered voters in Bexar County ahead of Election Day.

“As the nation approaches the Presidential election with less than 50 days remaining, understanding voter sentiment is essential,” Gervais said. “Just as other major cities have established research centers to measure public opinion, the UTSA Center for Public Opinion Research is focused on gauging local sentiment.”

As CPOR grows, Gervais anticipates going beyond election polls to gain insights from Bexar County voters about other key topics. The UTSA researcher says that the polling center is also interested in understanding the local population’s health and wellbeing as well as its priorities.

“Our goal is to provide local leaders and organizations with data that will allow them to best serve our community,” Gervais said.

The margin of error for this month’s poll is +/- 3.7%.