Texas Gov Gets Low Grades
on Border as Popularity Sinks

Capitol Inside
September 28, 2021

A majority of Texas voters don't think Governor Greg Abbott deserves another term and half disapprove of the job that the Republican-controlled Legislature has been doing based on a new Quinnipiac University poll of voters here.

Two-thirds of Texas voters said they do not believe that Abbott would be a good president in the Quinnipiac survey - the latest in a growing list of bad reviews that the Republican governor has received during a sharp swing to the far right in recent months.

Forty-eight percent of Texas voters in a Quinnipiac survey in June believed Abbott didn't deserve to keep his job compared to 46 percent who did. But 51 percent of the Texans in the September sample indicated that he shouldn't be re-elected while a mere 42 percent thought they he should.

Democrat Beto O'Rourke fared better - barely - with 50 percent saying that he wouldn't be a good governor if he seeks Abbott's job in 2022 as widely expected with thumbs downs from 33 percent. Texas voters were just as unimpressed with actor Matthew McConaughey - with 49 percent saying he wouldn't do a good job as governor with only 25 percent who disagreed.

The poll found Abbott underwater for the first time in his overall popularity ratings - with 44 percent approval and 47 percent disapproval marks from 863 Texas voters who were polled over the course of four days last week. Abbott actually beat Donald Trump in the Quinnipiac survey which found the former president's approval ratings at 43 percent while 47 percent disapproved. Democratic President Joe Biden was the most unpopular leader in the eyes of the Texans in the survey with a 32-61 percent approval rate just three months after being underwater by only 5 points here.

The poll found Abbott on the wrong side of public opinion on his handling of the border, the coronavirus pandemic and the explosive issue of abortion.

"Despite high marks for his handling of the economy, emotional lightening rod issues like policing the border, containing COVID-19, and legislating the right to choose in Texas are not helping Governor Abbott's standing with the voters," Quinnipiac polling analyst Tim Malloy said.

The poll results could be troubling for the governor in light of his bid to make the border the centerpiece issue in a race for a third term next year. Forty-six percent disapproved of Abbott's efforts at the Rio Grande while only 43 percent approved of them. Forty-six approved of his performance on the COVID-19 pandemic compared to 50 percent who disapproved.

But the governor's abortion policies were even more unpopular with a 37-53 percent approval rate in the Quinnipiac poll.

more to come ...