New poll gives Texas Republicans sizable leads | News

AUSTIN — Top Texas Republicans seeking to maintain their positions of energy this November are reporting sizable leads over their Democratic counterparts, in accordance with a brand new poll launched Friday.

The UT/Texas Politics Project Poll discovered that amongst seemingly voters, Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton every held a double digit lead over their challengers days earlier than the beginning of early voting. The poll surveyed 1,200 self-declared registered voters from Oct. 7-17.

“The political context expressed in the poll results and the characteristics of the broader election environment are consistent with increasing GOP leads in Texas, even if those advantages don’t remain as large as they are in this poll through the final two weeks of campaigning,” stated Jim Henson, government director of the Texas Politics Project. “Barring major political upheavals in Texas between now and Nov. 8, there’s not much chance of a fundamental reversal of the current dynamic favoring Texas Republicans.”

In the race for governor, Abbott held a 14-point lead — 54% to 43% — over Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke, in accordance with the poll. Green Party candidate Delilah Barrios and the Libertarian Party’s Mark Tippets every earned 1% help, whereas 2% most well-liked an unspecified “someone else,” the poll stated.

While Abbott maintained help from a majority of white voters and O’Rourke is backed by a majority of Black voters, the poll discovered that every is nearly tied amongst seemingly Hispanic voters.

In the race for lieutenant governor, Patrick reported a 15-point lead over Democratic challenger Mike Collier — 51% to 36%, in accordance with the poll. About 5% of voters stated they favored Shanna Steele, of the Libertarian Party, whereas 8% stated another person.

For lawyer common, Democratic challenger Rochelle Garza’s momentum seems to have slipped as she fell 14% behind Paxton, regardless of his two felony indictments, being underneath an FBI investigation and being sued by the Texas bar.

Despite Garza’s efforts to focus on Paxton’s authorized woes incessantly on the marketing campaign path, 42% of voters stated they haven’t heard a lot or in any respect of Paxton’s issues, the poll stated.

The Texas Republican candidates for the opposite statewide races additionally reported sizable leads.

For comptroller, incumbent Glenn Hegar held a 12-point lead over Democratic opponent Janet Dudding. Agriculture commissioner incumbent Sid Miller maintained a 13-point lead over Susan Hayes. and land commissioner Republican candidate Dawn Buckingham reported an 11-point lead over Democrat Jay Kelberg.

“With more than two weeks to go before Election Day, this snapshot from last week shouldn’t be taken as a prediction of what the final vote totals will look like. But given that the margins are somewhat wider than what we’ve seen in recent polls of likely voters (which have had Abbott leading by 7 or 8 points), it’s fair to ask how durable the apparent GOP advantages in these results might be, and whether they make sense in context,” Henson stated.

The poll additionally discovered that Texas voters rank border safety and inflation forward of gun management and abortion as essentially the most urgent points dealing with the state. Thirty-two % of respondents stated immigration and border safety was essentially the most urgent situation, whereas 14% stated the state financial system, 13% stated abortion and 9% stated gun violence.

At least 83% of respondents stated border safety and immigration had been no less than considerably essential of their resolution on who to vote for this coming election.

Additionally, 81% of respondents stated gun violence and 73% stated abortion was impacting their vote this November.

In one other blow to Democrats, Republican voters stay extra enthusiastic in regards to the election than Democratic voters, the poll stated.

In the general registered voter pattern, the share of Republicans who say they’re “extremely enthusiastic” about voting within the 2022 election is 14 share factors larger than the share of Democrats, 57% in comparison with 43%.

“Negative partisanship remains a powerful force in Texas politics, which plays to the advantage of Republicans by reinforcing their numerical advantage in the electorate,” Henson added. “Statewide Democrats, including (especially) Beto O’Rourke, need to find additional voters beyond established Democratic voters.”

Early voting begins Monday. Election Day is Nov. 8.