Opinion by Laura Ramirez | Photo: Alamy
A red tsunami is bound to hit the Lone Star State as Republican candidates continue to surge in the polls just two weeks before Texans will cast their votes in the state’s November elections.
A recent poll from Spectrum News and Siena College revealed that all Trump-backed Republican candidates, Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and Attorney General Ken Paxton, are all projected to win their reelection bid, reaffirming voters’ efforts to keep the state Republican-run. The survey was conducted Oct. 16-19 across 649 likely voters.
According to the data provided, Abbott has a nine-point advantage, leading Democrat challenger Beto O’Rourke 52-43 percent. Likewise, Patrick is leading his Democrat opponent by eight points; Paxton leads his challenger by six points.
The gap between Abbott and O’Rourke has widened in the latest poll conducted by Emerson College Polling and The Hill, as Abbott leads O’Rourke by 10 points, with 52-42 percent.
The poll, conducted between Oct. 17-19 of a larger sample of 1,000 likely general election voters, also indicated that Texas voters have a drastically more favorable view of Abbott than of O’Rourke. A majority, 55 percent, claimed to prefer Abbott, compared to 42 percent who did not.
In contrast, O’Rourke’s unfavorability rating is much higher than his favorable one, 51 to 45 percent, respectively.
To further embellish Abbott’s dominance over O’Rourke, election forecaster FiveThirtyEight forecasts that Abbott is “clearly favored” to win, “giving the incumbent governor a 97 percent chance of winning the race.