Texas Governor Abbott Expands Lead Over Democrat O’Rourke in New Poll

Shelly Hagan
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(Bloomberg) -- Texas Governor Greg Abbott expanded his lead over Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke, posting a double-digit advantage with less than three weeks to go before the vote.

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Abbott, a Republican, had 54% support from likely voters compared with 43% for O’Rourke, a former US congressman from El Paso, according to a poll released Friday by the University of Texas/Texas Politics Project.

The survey shows Abbott with a comfortable lead as he seeks his third term leading the Lone Star State. Previous polls had showed the governor with a consistent, but narrower lead, anywhere from five to nine percentage points.

The poll found that Texans trust Abbott more when it comes to two top issues in the state: immigration/border security and the economy. On the issue of abortion, both candidates were tied on who voters think would do a better job.

In other statewide races, incumbent Republicans continued to register an edge over their challengers ahead of the Nov. 8 ballot. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick posted a 15 percentage point lead over his opponent and Attorney General Ken Paxton has a 14 percentage point advantage over Democrat Rochelle Garza. No Democrat has won a statewide election in Texas in nearly three decades.

The survey of 1,200 self-declared registered voters was conducted Oct. 7 to Oct. 17 and has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.

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