Hes not charismatic to the same heights as Perry and Bush were, Republican pollster Derek Ryan says of Abbott. Abbotts ascent in Texas has coincided with the Republican Partys move toward Tea Party populism, then Trumpism. AP Photo/Pat Sullivan. On the eve of the start of early voting in the May 24 primary runoffs, Attorney General Ken Paxton leads fellow Republican and state Land Commissioner George P. Bush, 41-35. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott: The Texas governor who cruised past a 2020 presidential contender, former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, to win his third term in November is unlikely to make any official 2024 moves until his . What explains Abbotts grip on power in the countrys biggest red state? Gov. They booed when a Univision reporter asked a question about a recent shooting in Austin. This month, though, 44% of Roe vs. Wade opponents say they back a six-week ban, 29% favor a cutoff after 15 weeks and 27% are unsure. The poll also found that 37% of those surveyed said they would vote for O'Rourke if he ran against Abbott in 2022. They know hes out there, but no one ever sees it., Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who considered challenging Abbott in the governors race but decided to run for reelection himself, says Abbott is kind of a recluse.. Part of that has to do with Abbott's sinking approval rating, which has dropped to 41% in a recent poll . Thats what separates the good from the great. Madlin Mekelburg. They knew the reason why somebody needed to carry a weapon was far more than just to use it to kill games that they would eat, he said, his voice turning somewhat robotic as he spoke into a microphone. While Republican voters havent budged and continue to say he has the integrity needed to serve as the states top lawyer (by 49-16), for the first time a plurality of all voters disagree: 37% say Paxton doesnt have the requisite integrity, while 30% say he does. The online and phone surveys were conducted in English and Spanish. Matthew McConaughey could actually decide to run. Abbott is now facing at least three challengers in next years GOP primary: Don Huffines, a former state senator, whose billboards lining Texas highways call for an end to property taxes; Allen West, a former Florida Tea Party congressman who moved to Texas and became state Republican Party chair; and Chad Prather, a conservative commentator and comedian. Its a booming economy and more people are moving here than leaving here, she said. Not only are they concerned that a mass shooting could happen in their community, many people think that the Legislature and elected officials are not doing enough, Owens said. The proposals include additional state spending on preventive services and accepting federal funds to help parents manage their mental health, treat substance abuse and improve parenting skills. When I asked the governor directly about his vision for the state, he said: Any other candidate who tries to run would be basically adopting the vision that Ive already cast and the vision that I have cemented for Texas, which is the conservative vision where Texas is a conservative paradigm for the entire country.. More than half of Texans think the state is on the wrong track, while border security and immigration continue to loom large, especially among Texas Republicans. The mixed-mode sample includes 412 registered voters surveyed over the phone by the University of Texas at Tyler with support from ReconMR, and 400 registered voters randomly selected from Dynatas panel of online respondents. When we spoke in June, he talked about focusing on bread-and-butter fundamental issues and creating an environment where any Texan has the ability to get a job a far cry from the issues he has promoted this summer. Republican consultant Matthew Langston said Abbott will win with the support of the conservative voters who have dominated Texas politics for 30 years. The poll, conducted Aug. 1-7, surveyed 1,384 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott will face off against Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke in November. Greg Abbott still leads Beto ORourke in governors race, poll shows, Texas headed in wrong direction, voters say. The Texas primary on Tuesday was expected to be a test of the Republican party's rightward shift. In the end, Springer beat Luther by 13 percentage points, but the message was clear: A faction of the GOP in Texas was out to get Abbott, and if he was going to win his own primary decisively, he would once again have to maneuver to the right to win over detractors. Greg Abbott was making headlines for a controversial . Greg Abbott still leads Beto ORourke, new poll shows, call a special session on curbing mass shootings, 63% dont think elected officials are doing enough to stop mass shootings, May 24 massacre of 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texans should watch their wallets: Power grid report approved without public input, the November race for Texas attorney general. But it hasnt happened yet. (Abbott told me he wasnt worried about the parallel, but about the people who live on the border.) According to Quinnipiac University, Abbott now has a divided 44-47% approval rating. Greg Abbott is doing to halt a migrant influx at the U.S.-Mexico border, but support for his state-built wall has ebbed, according to a Dallas Morning News-University of Texas at Tyler poll released Sunday. But Stephen Willeford, who was feted at the event for disrupting the deadliest mass shooting in Texas history with his AR-15, was still holding out judgment. While Abbott didnt exactly embrace the move, he didnt criticize it either. They argued that it echoed language from a gunman who killed 23 people at an El Paso Walmart two years ago. Get the latest politics news from North Texas and beyond. Paxton has denied wrongdoing. The Texas electorate overall has nudged to the left in recent years, and business interests still hold sway here. The margin of error for a sample of 972 registered voters in Texas is +/- 2.6 percentage points, and the more conservative margin of sampling error that includes design effects from this poll is +/- 2.8 percentage points for a 95% confidence interval. Still, Molina, who supports ORourke in Novembers race for governor, said its an atrocity that Abbott and the Texas Legislature have passed a trigger law that would ban virtually all abortions, including in cases of rape and incest. Abbott speaks during a campaign in Houston in 2014 during his first gubernatorial bid. Strongly Approve; Approve; No Opinion; Disapprove; Strongly Disapprove; . The margin of error for a sample of 1,232 registered voters in Texas is +/- 2.8 percentage points, and the more conservative margin of sampling error that includes design effects from this poll is +/- 3.1 percentage points for a 95% confidence interval. In a statewide survey last month by former Dallas state Rep. Jason Villalbas Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation, two out of five likely Republican primary voters said that they would never vote for Bush. For the most part, Abbott does too, he added. The day before the bill signing in San Antonio, he held another press conference in the governors reception room at the capitol in Austin to announce that the state would pick up Trumps signature proposal of building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border with donated land and funds. ORourke beat Abbott in one category: 37% thought he would do a better job of bringing people together, compared with 32% for Abbott. 46% approve and 50% disapprove of how hes handling his duties, compared with net approval of 50-46 in February. Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) March 2, 2022. . Abbott has always confronted Democrats aggressively, but he has a history of advocating for policies that all Republicans can get on board with, like cracking down on human trafficking. In Texas that never happens. Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke narrows Greg Abbott's lead, with more Texans agreeing that the state is headed in the wrong direction, according to a recent poll from the Dallas . Abbott's job approval rating is now underwater. This month, that shrank to just 44-42. Abbotts approval rating is nearly 80 percent among Republican voters, according to the Texas Politics Project. Associated Press/LM Otero. Its hard to know how he would stand out from other high-profile candidates if he pursues national office. The Associated Press contributed to this report, Beta V.1.0 - Powered by automated translation, comfortably won their party's nominations on Tuesday, State of the Union: Biden assails Putin as US Congress cheers for Ukraine, after several of his of domestic policies had stalled. The Hollywood star has hinted that he may run for the state's highest office in 2022 and has even called it "an honest consideration.". . The Lyceum poll depicts Biden's approval rating in Texas at a higher percentage (43%) than he currently has nationwide (42%, per Gallup), which Strother sees as suspect. Even Februarys winter storm, which led to about $130 billion in lost output and damage according to one estimate, has barely dented Abbotts approval ratings. Abbott enjoys a huge fundraising lead, and 60% of voters say the incumbent Republican has been most visible on TV. The economy could tank. With Trump's endorsement, Abbott has subdued threats from his right ahead of the 2022 primary. In other poll findings, Abbott's approval rating declined slightly, with 46% of voters approving his job performance and 43% disapproving. Abbott spoke about how people crossing the border were invading Texas and described a scene of chaos at South Texas ranches. He also won both his general election challenges by double-digit margins, going after his Democratic opponents for being too far to the left and deploying an expensive operation to target and turn out voters. Visit the Center for Opinion Research for more information about current and previous studies. Earlier, he was a statehouse reporter for three newspapers, including the Dallas Times Herald. Mr Abbott is now in a commanding position as he seeks a third term, beginning his run with more than $50 million and campaigning on a strongly conservative agenda in Americas largest Republican state. Texans feel a sense of economic uncertainty, even if most Texans assign blame to federal lawmakers for inflation.. Would you say that you" Race is calculated according to the race variable. They all need them on their front doorstep. The Texas Politics Project just released the results of a March poll developed in conjunction with a team of researchers at the UT Energy Institute that asked dozens of questions about Texans experience during the winter storm, their attitudes toward causes and consequences of the storm, their views of, and expectations about, possible policy responses, and their views of how a wide range of actors from their neighbors and utility providers to state political leaders, regulatory bodies, and corporate actors. He has strong approval ratings from Republicans, and he is the incumbent, but . Marchs primary field of four major GOP candidates for attorney general has narrowed to two. Yet nobody is even close to him in the governors race. He now has a YouTube channel called BareFoot Defender he wasnt wearing shoes when he stopped the attack where he has invited all the gubernatorial candidates to appear. On another touchy subject high property taxes a plurality of 40% assigns responsibility to Abbott and the GOP-led Legislature. Voters are also indicating that they are diverging from leaders on policy, Owens said. I was that way as an attorney general. Texas governor Greg Abbott is trailing Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey in a new opinion poll. The February 2023 University of Texas / Texas Politics Project poll has just been released, including extensive questioning about the emerging agenda for the 2023 Legislative session. The agitators pull on Abbott became apparent early on in his tenure. An unmasked audience, including grassroots activists and lawmakers families, filled the low-ceilinged, windowless room with the energy of a political rally. Abbott and his team rallied for Springer in the runoff: The governor filmed an endorsement video, his campaign gave more than a quarter-million dollars in in-kind donations, and it aired an attack ad against Luther. enlisted medical personnel from out of state and requested that hospitals postpone elective procedures, requested that the Texas State Guard monitor the operation, provide information for people who have questions, an expensive operation to target and turn out voters, accused Abbott of not doing enough to advance conservative priorities, a judge on Monday to block the governors mask mandate ban, a state agency to determine whether some gender confirmation surgeries, Abbotts campaign handled voter mobilization efforts for Senator Ted Cruz, by pointing the finger at the states grid operator. But his showdown with ORourke is expected to be one of the most watched races in the country. Average of Poll: Abbott: 61%, Don Huffines: 8% Allen West: 10%. Still, Democrats face the heaviest of headwinds in 2022. by Andrea Drusch April 26, 2022. Greg Abbott took office in 2015. . Abbott (ABT) closed at $102.63 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.79% move from the prior day. March 2, 2022 / 5:47 AM / CBS DFW. Greg Abbott (R) initially praised the police response to the Robb Elementary School shooting but on May 27 . Gov. While Biden remains deeply unpopular in Texas, with just 39% of voters approving of the job hes doing, and 58% disapproving, the poll shows slight erosion for Abbott and state Republicans. These moves appear to be aimed directly at Republican voters: In the 2022 gubernatorial election, Abbott faces at least three GOP primary challengers who have spent much of the past year questioning his conservative credentials, most pointedly over the governors Covid restrictions last year. That narrowed the gap from a July poll that had O'Rourke trailing Abbott 45-33. Instead, it was about the version of Abbott these sources see behind the scenes: a former Texas Supreme Court justice and attorney general who has learned to adapt to Texas changing Republican electorate and anticipate potential political threats. This group of people, and then some, are going to make me the first Democrat to be governor of the state of Texas since 1994, Mr ORourke told supporters in Fort Worth, where in 2018 he flipped Texass largest Republican county. The latest University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll shows Governor Greg Abbott's approval rating has improved. Or do you want someone who will take the weaker path?. Greg Abbott Approval (June 2022) Greg Abbott Issue Area Job Approval (April 2022) 2022 Gubernatorial Vote Intention: Greg Abbott vs. Beto O'Rourke (April 2022) . For the first time, the pollsters tested how much Texas voters like Florida Gov. Polls from firms that are banned by FiveThirtyEight are not shown. While Mr Paxton won more votes than Mr Bush on Tuesday, his failure to win outright could raise questions about the power of Mr Trumps endorsement as he seeks to reshape the party in his image in other primaries later this year. Caught between two factions of his own party, Abbott worked behind the scenes to make sure the bill he had publicly supported wouldnt actually get to his desk. Democratic challenger Rochelle Garza trailed two-term incumbent Republican Ken Paxton by 34% to 32%, making the race a dead heat. Thats another crisis that Abbott survived, by pointing the finger at the states grid operator, even though his office failed to deliver warnings about the potential outages and his appointees failed to prevent the disaster. They have to keep people energized because Beto ORourke is a really good retail politician.. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, Stand with us in our mission to discover and uncover the story of North Texas, Texas Gov. 52% of Hispanics trust ORourke more, the poll found. Tonight, Republicans sent a message to keep Texas on the path of opportunity & prosperity. People underestimate his political strength and his adaptability and adaptability is a polite term. Those who responded that they are independents or "other" were then asked if they lean toward either the Democrats or Republicans. The latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll has been released in full. Take the 2017 debate over the states bathroom bill. In Texas, lawmakers meet for a regular session that lasts 140 days every other year; only the governor can call a special session. But how could ORourke win, when even some of his supporters dont believe he can? In contrast, voters slightly disapprove (49-47) of Abbotts job performance. Four donors have given $1 million each, including Dallas billionaire Kelcy Warren, CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, a gas pipeline company that made $2.4 billion this past winter when the state was in the grip of a major winter storm that left millions without power for days. THANK YOU, TEXAS!We are going to win this race with one another, for one another. Allen West is very conservative, and he talks my game. Stitt and Abbott also dove under 35% for voters' approval of how they manage their states. CORRECTION, 12:10 p.m. Aug. 14, 2022: An earlier version of the graphic contained the incorrect percentages for Black and white voters choices in the race for Texas governor. Abbott faces some potential vulnerabilities, the poll found. Few people doubt Greg Abbotts Republican bona fides, but many who have known him for years say he is personally more moderate than his public persona these days. One of Abbott's possible 2022 challengers is Texas GOP Chairman Allen West, who gave the governor credit Wednesday for making clear his positions on issues like permitless carry. In 2014 and 2018, Abbott won his Republican primaries with more than 90 percent of the vote. Plus, Abbott will never be able to satisfy the hardline conservative activists who oppose him and actively support his primary challengers.