AUSTIN — Texans overwhelmingly believe the economy is the most important issue facing the country and expect gloomy conditions to get worse, according to the nonpartisan Texas Lyceum Poll released today.

The poll, which annually tests Texans’ attitudes on current events, also found that most Texans — 58 percent — support expanding rights for gay partnerships by allowing either civil unions or gay marriage.

“While Texans do not support gay marriage per se, they are not necessarily opposed to expanded legal rights for same sex couples,” said Daron Shaw, one of two political professors at the University of Texas at Austin who conducted the poll.

On the economy, more than two-thirds of Texans don’t have confidence in the stock market and almost half are not very confident about the safety of their retirement funds. Almost a third of respondents have stopped putting money in their own retirement accounts and about one in five have moved retirement money into less risky investments.

Many have put off education or the purchase of a car.

Still, Texans are leery of government spending to boost the economy.

Most think the federal government will spend too much money and are overwhelmingly opposed to spending to bail out financial institutions and automakers. But most are OK with increased federal spending if it’s used to support energy technology, accessible health care and education, even if those costs increase the national deficit.

“Texans are conflicted about taking money from the federal government,” said James Henson, director of the UT’s Texas Politics Project. “While they approve of the governor’s rejection of federal stimulus dollars for the unemployed, more than 60 percent are confident that the president’s plan is helping our overall sagging economy.”

In other issues, Texans largely support the idea of requiring more identification to vote, a failed priority for Republican lawmakers during the recently adjourned legislative session.

Even though Democratic lawmakers vehemently opposed efforts to pass such a measure, the poll found broad support among Republicans and Democrats statewide, though the issue was not considered a priority.

On embryonic stem cell research, 48 percent of Texans favor spending state money while 46 percent are opposed.

For the poll, researchers interviewed about 1,000 Texans by telephone from June 5 through June 12.

The Texas Lyceum, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group is made up of almost 100 members identified as the next generation of top Texas leaders.

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