Most Texas voters agree Gov. Abbott should not be reelected, new poll says

Most Texas voters do not want to see Republican Gov. Greg Abbott reelected in 2022, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll.

The survey, released Tuesday, found 51% of registered voters in the state do not believe Abbott deserves a third term. Just 42% said he deserves reelection. Back in June, the same pollster found 48% opposed to his reelection and 46% in favor.

For the first time since Quinnipiac began polling Texans in April 2018, more voters disapproved of Abbott than approved, by a margin of 47%-44%. Voters said, 48%-45%, that the governor is taking the state in the wrong direction.

While Abbott received positive ratings for his handling of the economy (53%-39%), voters disapprove of his handling of the U.S.-Mexican border (43%-46%), the coronavirus response (46%-50%), and abortion (37%-53%).

According to a separate Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday, by a 60%-31% margin, Texans back the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling guaranteeing abortion rights; 51% say they believe abortion should be legal all or most of the time; and 43% say it should illegal in all or most cases.

In May, Abbott signed into law a strict ban on abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. The policy went into effect on Sept. 1 after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Republican-appointed majority ignored abortion rights precedents and refused to intervene.

The second Quinnipiac University poll found that Texas voters believe 72%-21% that the new law’s provisions allowing private citizens to sue anyone they suspect may have helped with an abortion after six weeks is a bad idea.

Voters also said by a margin of 67%-26% that a law signed by Abbott in June that lets anyone carry a handgun without a license or training made the state less safe rather than more.

By a 47%-38% margin, they said Abbott is hurting, not helping, efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19; 63% disagreed with efforts by Abbott and Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton to sue school districts that impose face mask requirements.

An August poll by Spectrum News/Ipso found Texas adults back requiring face masks in K-12 schools 72%-28%.

Two polls in June — one by Quinnipiac University and one by the University of Texas/Texas Tribune — also found Abbott and the Texas GOP to be out of touch with their constituents. Both showed voters opposed to the abortion ban and to the law scrapping licensing and training requirements for adults to carry a holstered handgun.

Abbott’s popularity has dropped significantly since he was last on the ballot for governor in 2018, when he defeated Democrat Lupe Valdez 55.8%-42.5%.

In 2014, he won against Wendy Davis by a 59.3%-38.9% landslide.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.