New polling data shows Governor Greg Abbott with a growing lead over former Democrat congressman Beto O’Rourke.
The Dallas Morning News / UT-Tyler poll now has Abbott’s lead at 11-points over O’Rourke at 47-36 percent.
The margin represents a 5-point gain for Abbott since November.
“It shows that the deterioration in President Biden’s position and Democrats position more generally, is starting to show up in Texas,” Wilson said.
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Matthew Wilson is an associate professor of political science at SMU and says the polling shows O’Rourke faces an uphill battle for several reasons
Abbott remains the most popular statewide elected Republican despite weathering criticism for his handling of Covid mandates in 2020 and the failure of the state’s power grid during the winter storm last February.
“Covid and last year’s electrical grid problems are not enough for O’Rourke to win the governorship,” Wilson said.
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However, Wilson added for a race that is still 10 months out, this week could prove pivotal with another a cold snap on the way and forecast high demand on the ERCOT grid.
“If that (grid failure) were to happen again then that really does give O’Rourke some ground on which to attack,” Wilson said.
O’Rourke hopes to re-energize a base that nearly propelled him to the U.S. Senate four years ago but then watched as Texas Democrats lost ground in 2020.
