In an attempt to understand the impact that Winter Storm Uri had on Texas, the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs conducted a survey of adults living in the 213 counties served by the Texas Electrical Grid. The survey gathered information on Texans’ experiences during the storm, as well as their opinions on the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions by Governor Greg Abbott.

Survey results were presented in two reports. The Winter Storm of 2021 illustrates how various Texans prepared for the storm, where they received their information about the storm, whether or not they lost electrical power or running water, and whether or not they experienced negative experiences like difficulty obtaining groceries or damage to their residence. It also depicts support for and opposition to potential policy reforms after the storm. Lifting the COVID-19 Restrictions in Texas presents data about Texans’ opinions on the ending of the mask mandate and business capacity restrictions, including the level of support for Governor Abbot’s decisions based on ethnicity/race, generation, gender, level of education, and political party.

For more information on topics related to this piece, check out this article on HSDL about the Texas power outage, or read about other states’ opinions on COVID-19 in the HSDL series State of the Nation: A 50-State COVID-19 Survey You can also visit the HSDL Featured Topic on Pandemics and Epidemics.

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