Polling Of Gregg Abbott After COVID Surge Has Texas Trending Blue

0
1343

Abortion politics. Legitimate rape. Bounty-hunting litte sexually abused girls. So it has come down to this? Democratic women are horrified, and oh so animated. Now, the GOP does not want to talk about it. Image that. But we do.

Texas is changing, morphing into a purple state, but its governor has been trying to swim in the algae-infested political waters that “blooms” red, fading to pink. Governor Greg Abbott and his Republican-dominated legislature have gone medieval.

If Senate Minority Leader Mitch (Grim Reaper) McConnell (R-KY) had not stolen President Barack Obama’s justice, the Heritage Foundation’s handpicked nominees would not have been able to manipulate a midnight Texas anti-abortion bill. So how much do we dislike Texas Governor Gregg Abbott?

The Texas Politics Project Poll at the University of Texas-Austin had some interesting findings. According to The Houston Chronical, 50 percent disapproved of his job performance and only 41 percent approved. We wonder, is it possible to recall a Texas and Florida governor as the Republicans have been doing in California?

The poll has been tracking Abbott’s numbers since 2015, and his approval rating has been dropping like a rock. Immediately prior to the latest poll, even Abbott tested positive for the coronavirus. That was immediately after he held a body-to-body packed rally for his supporters.

Fifty-two percent of the second-largest states’ voters said:

‘[Texas is] headed in the wrong direction.’

The percentage of Texans who felt Abbott’s job performance was lacking was 50 percent, 41 percent approved, and nine percent had no opinion. That was his lowest number since he took office.

Director of the poll James Henson said:

‘Everywhere you look in the poll there’s just signs that the mood here is very dour. And when you have one party that owns the policy environment, that’s not good news. The Republicans have had a pretty easy ride for the two-decades-plus they’ve been in power in the state.’

‘And there’s now a convergence of factors that’s really going to test their ability to govern. And we’ve seen a very clear approach to that in this last legislative session, and it doesn’t seem to going (sic) over very well.’

Abbott called a special election and has been chugging through his legal priorities:

‘[He manipulated] measures to add election security and restrict voting practices, an expansion of virtual learning, an extra pension benefit check for retired public school employees, funding for border security, and a border wall.’

Texans are jittery. A full 68 percent named four problems right in front of them. This poll was conducted before Abbott managed to kill abortion rights in his state. So that might have taken the top priority otherwise. Before then, these were Texans’ concerns:

  • COVID-19, 23 percent
  • Border security, 20 percent
  • Immigration, 15 percent
  • Political corruption/leadership, 10 percent.

Henson pointed out a few more:

  • Political polarization
  • Texas’ government’s lack of response to the February ice storm.

The number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in Texas has its hospitals filled to overflowing. This was a new high, even from the pandemic’s earlier numbers.

It all started with the state’s milquetoast approach to mask-wearing and vaccinations compare to other states. Then, the Delta virus arrived. The new variant was far more contagious than the original and far meaner.

There was 53 percent who disapproved of Abbott’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and just 39 percent approved. The remainder had no opinion:

‘The election isn’t tomorrow, it’s not until next year, but it’s been a long time since there was a widespread sense in the state that things aren’t going well, and I think we’re seeing more indications of that.’

The poll interviewed 1,200 registered Texas voters from August 20 through Monday August 30. There was a fair margin of error of 2.83 percent.


Three White Lions podcast, Gloria Christie reads her week’s most important news/ commentary stories in the liberal online newspaper The Bipartisan Report. Gloria Christie Report her newsletter for people on the go. Written in her own unique style with a twist of humor in a briefer version of Bipartisan Report. Christie’s Mueller Report Adventures In Bite-Sizes a real-life compelling spy mystery. Find her here on Facebook.