Abbott Gets Top Grade for Impeachment
as Schumer Tops in DC in New UT Poll
Capitol Inside
October 27, 2023
A new University of Texas poll found Donald Trump with a huge lead over a pack of Republican rivals in the 2024 presidential competition in the Lone Star State this month. Trump led President Joe Biden here by 8 points with support in a hypothetical rematch with 45 percent support. No surprises there.
But the Texas Politics Project survey featured some findings that weren't as predictable as the White House race that will be the ballot next year. Here's what we mean.
* Governor Greg Abbott did a better job than Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and Texas Speaker Dade Phelan with the way he handled his role in the state House's bid to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton according to the UT poll results. Phelan led the push to oust Paxton while Patrick served as the trial judge in the Senate where the AG was acquitted in September. The Republican governor was invisible throughout the biggest political story of the century in the state that he's led for almost nine years.
Thirty-five percent of the UT participants approved of Abbott's vanishing act during the impeachment ordeal compared to 33 percent who disapproved. Twenty-nine percent gave Patrick a good grade for his performance as the impeachment jurist while 31 percent turned thumbs down. Twenty-four percent approved of Phelan's handling of the impeach compared to 29 percent who did not.
* A pair of New York Democrats - U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries - were more popular in Texas than both U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in the UT poll for October.
* Jeffries - the Democrats' top leader in the lower house of Congress since January - had higher approval ratings and lower disapproval marks than Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan in the new poll. The Republican state House leader from Beaumont received his bachelor's degree at the University of Texas in Austin.
* Fifty-five percent of the Texas voters in the sample said they do not think Trump is honest and trustworthy compared to 36 percent who do. Fifty-three percent do not think Trump has the temperament to be the president again as opposed to 42 percent who do. Fifty-one percent said they don't think Trump cares about regular people like themselves.
* The poll found that 47 percent of the voters here believe the Paxton impeachment was justified compared to 26 percent who disagree. Fifty percent said it was justified a month before the impeachment trial in an August poll when only 17 percent said it was not. But that had little or no effect on Phelan's individual popularity when the October poll at his alma mater found his approval and disapproval marks at 22 percent and 31 percent respectively. The Texas speaker had been viewed favorably by 20 percent in the UT survey in August with a disapproval rating at 31 percent.
* Democrats would have their best shot at their first victory in Texas in a presidential contest since 1976 if the GOP nominee is anyone but Trump. Biden led Nikki Haley by 2 percentage points in a hypothetical general election pairing. Biden had a 3 point lead over Vivek Ramaswamy in a potential clash here in the new UT poll. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis led Biden by only 1 point with 39 percent in Teas in a hypothetical duel in 2024.
* Paxton's approval ratings jumped 6 points to 33 percent in the October survey while the negative marks he received fell 4 points to 42 percent. But 50 percent of the Republicans in the sample hold the AG in a positive light compared to only 20 percent who disapprove of the job he's doing as the state's top lawyer.
* Twenty-two percent of the registered voters in the new UT poll approved of Phelan's performance in his second term as the state House speaker compared to 31 percent who disapproved. Phelan's approvals jumped 2 points to 22 percent in October while the negative number remained at 31 percent.
* Forty-nine percent approved of the job the Republican governor is doing in the poll for October - a 4 point jump from August. Abbott broke even in August with 45 percent approval and 45 percent disapproval.
* Thirty-two percent approved of the House's performance in the Paxton impeachment compared to 29 percent who did not. Thirty-three percent gave the Senate good marks for the AG's trial while 31 percent disapproved of the way it handled the event.
The UT poll gathered opinions from 1,252 registered Texas voters from October 5 to October 17. |
