Texans will be asking themselves a lot of questions come November, when Texas heads into its general elections. Between the battle for governorship, an indictment, and growing concerns over immigration, Texan’s have a lot on their plate.
So where does the average Texan stand in the middle of the political whirlwind? Texas Standard’s David Brown speaks with University of Texas associate professor Darren Shaw, who conducted a poll on behalf of the non-partisan Texas Lyceum group. So after the numbers have been tallied, what do the polls show us?
Abbot has a lead, but Davis is doing better than most Texas Democrats have recently.
“For a challenger, for a Democrat, she’s well known. She and Abbot are about the same level when it comes to name recognition … I don’t know if she’s in striking distance, but she’s doing a little better than one might expect," Shaw says.
Gov. Perry’s approval is relatively unchanged – even with an indictment.
“You would think that would bring a lot of baggage," Shaw says. "Maybe its that we’ve all made up our minds on Rick Perry a long time ago, and there just isn’t that much movement there.”
Texans disapprove of President Obama – but no more so than the rest of the nation.
“He’s a little underwater, but that’s still very comparable to the national numbers, and Texas is by reputation, indeed a deep red conservative state.”
Texans worry about immigration, while the rest of the nation worries about the economy.
“[Nationally] the economy kind of dominates, but at the state level people are focusing on immigration and border security. Which I find really interesting given that we’re still going through this slow recession – slow recovery. "
