Abbott gains floor on O'Rourke as Texans approve of busing migrants north

Cami Mondeaux

September 19, 03:26 PM September 19, 03:26 PM

Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) has expanded his lead more than Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke, largely simply because of how the incumbent has shifted his focus to immigration in the midst of a surge of migrants crossing the southern border.

About 47% of Texas voters say they’d again Abbott for an additional expression as governor, in comparison to just 38% for O’Rourke, giving the Republican incumbent a 9-level gain around his Democratic challenger, in accordance to a new Dallas Early morning News/University of Texas at Tyler poll. The new numbers demonstrate how considerably floor Abbott has attained given that his 7-position guide last month.

O’ROURKE OUTRAISES ABBOTT FOR Initially TIME In spite of TRAILING IN POLLS

“A clear change in the election is that the Abbott marketing campaign started advertising and they went detrimental, even though remaining the only marketing campaign on the air,” said poll Director Mark Owens, in accordance to the outlet. “Registered voters who say they saw the commercials supported Gov. Abbott 23% additional generally.”

Voters have especially accepted of Abbot’s dealing with of the border disaster, with 52% favoring the incumbent more than proposals from O’Rourke, the poll showed. These numbers replicate the Texas governor’s latest motion to bus far more than 10,000 migrants from the condition to places this sort of as Washington, D.C., and New York as a way to spotlight the border crisis.

Most notably, Abbott approved the transfer of a lot more than 100 migrants from Texas to Vice President Kamala Harris’s home at the Naval Observatory on Thursday in retaliation for reviews she built that the southern border was “secure.” Days afterwards, Abbott approved a different busload of immigrants that arrived on Saturday, Sept. 17.

The transfer to bus migrants to northern jurisdictions has resonated with Texas voters, with 54% saying they approve, in accordance to the poll. The Dallas Early morning Information/College of Texas at Tyler poll surveyed 1,268 registered voters and has a margin of mistake of as well as or minus 2.9 proportion points.

Inspite of trailing in the polls, O’Rourke has shown some toughness in fundraising, outraising Abbott throughout the second quarter of the year. O’Rourke raked in $27.6 million from a lot more than 511,000 particular person donors concerning Feb. 20 and June 30, according to his marketing campaign. That puts him in advance of Abbott’s gains in the course of the similar time period of time, as the incumbent raised $24.9 million from nearly 113,000 donors.