With a looming budget shortfall, Houston leaders have some tough decisions to make when determining the new budget for the upcoming fiscal year. What policy issues are of most importance to Houstonians? How do they rate the performance of top elected officials and city departments? What do Houstonians think about the quality of life in their neighborhood as well as in the city? 

To address these timely questions and more about the nation’s fourth largest city, the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston conducted a survey of City of Houston registered voters to assess their preferences and opinions about a wide range of local issues. The survey was fielded between March 29 and April 4, 2025 by contacting City of Houston registered voters via SMS text messages through which they were directed to an online survey platform with the option to answer the survey in English or Spanish. Representative of the City of Houston population of registered voters, the analysis population of 1,400 has a margin of error of +/- 2.62%. 

The results of the survey will be presented in three reports. This first report examines the opinions of registered voters in Houston (also referred to as Houstonians throughout the report) on where the city is headed, the job performance of the mayor and the quality of life in the city, as well as Houstonians’ satisfaction with city services, what they believe the most important problems facing Houston are, and the impact of a variety of factors on the quality of life in their neighborhood. A second brief report provides evaluations of six actual and potential Texas Congressional District 18 special election candidates according to Houstonians residing in the district. The final report gauges the extent to which Houstonians visit area parks, attractions and sporting events as well as explore their opinions about the potential of a major theme park being built in Houston and of Houston getting a Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) team and a National Hockey League (NHL) team.  

Report One. Issues, Performance & Quality of Life

Highlights

41% of Houstonians think things in the City of Houston are headed in the right direction, while 59% think they are headed in the wrong direction.

59% of Houstonians approve of the job that John Whitmire is doing as the mayor of the City of Houston, while 41% disapprove.

58% of Houstonians rate the quality of life in Houston as excellent (2%), very good (14%) or good (42%), while 42% of Houstonians rate the quality of life in Houston as very poor (3%), poor (10%), or fair (29%).

47% of Houstonians are satisfied with the overall job the City of Houston is doing in providing public services, while 53% are dissatisfied.

28% of Houstonians are satisfied with the job the City of Houston is doing in providing public works related services (streets, water, drainage), while 72% are dissatisfied.

49% of Houstonians believe that roads and streets in bad condition is one of the top three problems facing the City of Houston today, followed by crime (41%) and traffic congestion (37%).

When considering quality of life factors in their neighborhoods, 52% of Houstonians say that streets in bad condition have a major negative impact followed by home and car break-ins (39%) and violent crime (37%).

39% of Houstonians would vote for and 38% would vote against a proposition which would allow the City of Houston to exceed its revenue cap annually by $30-40 million dollars to pay for public safety, while 23% were unsure or would not vote in the election.

59% of Houstonians support and 41% oppose the passage of an ordinance to make it illegal to sleep outside in the City of Houston as part of the city’s plan to end homelessness.

77% of Houstonians support and 23% oppose doubling the City of Houston’s budget allocation for its animal shelter (BARC) from $16 million to $32 million dollars.

Read Report One to learn more about where Houstonians stand on issues, city services, officials and potential proposals, including differences of opinion when considering gender, race/ethnicity, age, education and partisanship.

Media Release April 10, 2025

Report Two. Congressional District 18

Governor Greg Abbott has set a special election on Nov. 4, 2025 to fill the seat for Texas Congressional District 18, which was vacated by the late Rep. Sylvester Turner. This report examines the opinions about those in the race or potential candidates vying to represent the historic district.

Highlights

More than half of TX-18 registered voters residing within the City of Houston don’t know enough about the two most prominent TX-18 special election candidates who have filed to run to have an opinion of them, with 53% not knowing enough about County Attorney of Harris County Christian Menefee and 51% not knowing enough about former Houston City Council Member Amanda Edwards.

Christian Menefee has the highest net-favorability rating (proportion favorable minus proportion unfavorable) of these political figures (+27%), followed closely by Amanda Edwards (+23%), with Christina Morales (+13%) and Jolanda Jones (+10%) presently located on a tier below, and Isaiah Martin (+5%) and James Joseph (0%) on a tier below that.

Read Report Two to learn more about where Houstonians residing in the 18^th Congressional District stand on the candidates or potential candidates vying to represent the district, including differences of opinion when considering gender, race/ethnicity, age, education and partisanship.

Report Three. Entertainment & News

This report gauges the extent to which Houstonians visit area parks, assesses the source they rely on most for news about what is happening in Houston, and explores their opinions about the potential of a major theme park being built in Houston and of Houston getting a Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) team, a National Hockey League (NHL) team as well as other professional teams.

Highlights

60% of Houstonians are either very (31%) or somewhat (29%) enthusiastic about Houston getting a Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) team.

57% of Houstonians are either very (26%) or somewhat (31%) enthusiastic about Houston getting a National Hockey League (NHL) team.

45% of Houstonians are either very (17%) or somewhat (28%) enthusiastic about Houston getting a Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) team.

29% of Houstonians are either very (8%) or somewhat (21%) enthusiastic about Houston getting a Major League Cricket (MLC) team.

64% of Houstonians are either very (39%) or somewhat (25%) enthusiastic about Houston getting a major theme park like Disney World or Universal Studios in Orlando.

48% of Houstonians report having visited Hermann Park during the past year, followed by those who visited Memorial Park (46%) and Discovery Green (33%).

37% of Houstonians say that local TV stations (on TV or online) are their main source of news about what is happening in Houston, followed by social media (29%), the Houston Chronicle (16% in print or online) and local radio stations (11% on radio or online).

Read Report Three to learn more about where Houstonians stand on the addition of professional sports teams and a theme park, major Houston parks and primary news sources, including differences of opinion when considering gender, race/ethnicity, age, education, children in the household, partisanship and professional game attendance.

Media Release April 16, 2025

Research Team

Co-Investigator Renée Cross, Senior Executive Director & Researcher, Hobby School of Public Affairs

Co-Investigator Mark P. Jones, James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy's Fellow in Political Science, Rice University; Senior Research Fellow, Hobby School of Public Affairs 

Maria P. Perez Argüelles, Research Associate, Hobby School of Public Affairs

Savannah Sipole, Research Associate, Hobby School of Public Affairs

Communications Team

Diana Benitez, Program Manager, Web & Graphic Design, Hobby School of Public Affairs

Victoria Cordova, Executive Director of Communications, Hobby School of Public Affairs

Jeannie Kever, Communications Consultant

Celeste Zamora, Communications Manager, Hobby School of Public Affairs