Texas Poll: Gov. Greg Abbott Holds Strong Lead in Primary

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) holds a massive lead over his Republican opponents as well as a seven-point lead over potential Democrat challenger Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke, a poll found.

The Emerson College/The Hill Texas poll showed Abbott with a commanding lead over the rest of the Republican primary field. Abbott garnered 61 percent of the vote, while the next closest candidates to the governor are Allen B. West with 12 percent and Donald Huffines with 9 percent. There was no other candidate above three percent, and nine percent of voters were still undecided.

When the undecided respondents were allocated to whom they were leaning towards, the poll found that Abbott would extend his lead to 50 points, at 64 percent, West would garner 14 percent and Huffines would tally 11 percent. If Abbott clears the 50 percent threshold, he would clinch the Republican nomination and avoid a runoff.

Looking down the line at the November general election, the poll also found Abbott beating O’Rourke in the governor’s race by seven points. Abbott is projected to win with 52 percent of the vote, as only 45 percent of the respondents said they would vote for the Democrat, and 3 percent said they were unsure.

The Emerson College/The Hill Texas poll was conducted from February 21 and 21, a week before the March 1 primary. One thousand likely voters were asked the survey questions, 522 being Republican primary voters, and the poll showed an over the margin of error of 3 percent and 4.2 percent for the Republican primary question.

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