diff --git a/spec/text-editor-component-spec.js b/spec/text-editor-component-spec.js
index 4ced8c912..585beaedd 100644
--- a/spec/text-editor-component-spec.js
+++ b/spec/text-editor-component-spec.js
@@ -1217,7 +1217,7 @@ describe('TextEditorComponent', function () {
     })
 
     it('accounts for character widths when positioning cursors', async function () {
-      atom.config.set('editor.fontFamily', 'sans-serif')
+      component.setFontFamily('sans-serif')
       editor.setCursorScreenPosition([0, 16])
       await nextViewUpdatePromise()
 
@@ -1233,7 +1233,7 @@ describe('TextEditorComponent', function () {
     })
 
     it('accounts for the width of paired characters when positioning cursors', async function () {
-      atom.config.set('editor.fontFamily', 'sans-serif')
+      component.setFontFamily('sans-serif')
       editor.setText('he\u0301y')
       editor.setCursorBufferPosition([0, 3])
       await nextViewUpdatePromise()
@@ -1261,7 +1261,7 @@ describe('TextEditorComponent', function () {
     })
 
     it('positions cursors correctly after character widths are changed via a stylesheet change', async function () {
-      atom.config.set('editor.fontFamily', 'sans-serif')
+      component.setFontFamily('sans-serif')
       editor.setCursorScreenPosition([0, 16])
       await nextViewUpdatePromise()
 
diff --git a/src/text-editor-component.coffee b/src/text-editor-component.coffee
index e6fc0dc15..0306141d3 100644
--- a/src/text-editor-component.coffee
+++ b/src/text-editor-component.coffee
@@ -47,7 +47,6 @@ class TextEditorComponent
     @tileSize = tileSize if tileSize?
     @disposables = new CompositeDisposable
 
-    @observeConfig()
     @setScrollSensitivity(@config.get('editor.scrollSensitivity'))
 
     lineTopIndex = new LineTopIndex({
@@ -332,17 +331,6 @@ class TextEditorComponent
       clearTimeout(timeoutId)
       timeoutId = setTimeout(writeSelectedTextToSelectionClipboard)
 
-  observeConfig: ->
-    @disposables.add @config.onDidChange 'editor.fontSize', =>
-      @sampleFontStyling()
-      @invalidateMeasurements()
-    @disposables.add @config.onDidChange 'editor.fontFamily', =>
-      @sampleFontStyling()
-      @invalidateMeasurements()
-    @disposables.add @config.onDidChange 'editor.lineHeight', =>
-      @sampleFontStyling()
-      @invalidateMeasurements()
-
   onGrammarChanged: =>
     if @scopedConfigDisposables?
       @scopedConfigDisposables.dispose()
diff --git a/src/workspace-element.coffee b/src/workspace-element.coffee
index f3bff04c6..c604f62b1 100644
--- a/src/workspace-element.coffee
+++ b/src/workspace-element.coffee
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ class WorkspaceElement extends HTMLElement
       }
     """
     @styles.addStyleSheet(styleSheetSource, sourcePath: 'global-text-editor-styles')
+    @views.performDocumentPoll()
 
   initialize: (@model, {@views, @workspace, @project, @config, @styles}) ->
     throw new Error("Must pass a views parameter when initializing WorskpaceElements") unless @views?