Poll: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Holds Double-Digit Lead over Beto O’Rourke

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) holds a double-digit lead over Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke in a hypothetical head-to-head gubernatorial poll from Dallas Morning News-University of Texas at Tyler.

The poll found that 47 percent of the registered Texas voters said they would vote for Abbott, 11 percent more than the Democrat.

In comparison, only 36 percent of the respondents said they would vote for O’Rourke, who has had failed in his last two campaign attempts — losing against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in 2018 and a failed presidential bid in 2020.

There were also 16 percent of the respondents who said they would vote for “someone else” and one percent who said they were “not sure.”

Of the respondents, the majority, 51 percent, said they approve of how the two-term Republican governor has handed his job; of those respondents, 22 percent said they “strongly approve.” Only 45 percent disapprove of how Abbott has handled his job, while four percent said “neither.”

Regarding O’Rourke’s favorability, only 37 percent of the respondents had a favorable option of the Democrat, while a higher percentage, 45 percent, found him unfavorable. Seven percent said “neither,” with 11 percent who said, “don’t know enough.”

Over the weekend, former President Donald Trump visited the Lone Star State for a rally in Conroe, Texas, where he reaffirmed his position to back Abbott in his reelection campaign for a third term.

In contrast, last week during a news conference O’Rourke, who is now trailing in multiple polls, explained that he wants President Joe Biden and any other politician from Washington, DC, to stay away from his campaign.

“I’m not interested in any national politician — anyone outside of Texas — coming into this state to help decide the outcome of this,” O’Rourke said, noting that he wants to only “work with” and “listen to” people from the Lone Star State.

The poll also found that Biden, who has now been in office for over a year, received a 56 percent disapproval rating from respondents in the state, while 42 percent “strongly” disapproved. Only 41 percent percent of the respondents approved of his performance.

The Dallas Morning News-University of Texas at Tyler poll was conducted between January 18 and 25. There were 1,082 registered Texas voters statewide who took the survey, which has a conservative margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percent. The poll also had a confidence level of 95 percent.

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter.