Gov. Greg Abbott is not on the ballot this year, but if he was, he would be facing his toughest election yet.
A new poll shared by Axios on Friday shows Abbott’s approval rating has sunk and his disapproval rating has skyrocketed while handling the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Texas governor’s approval rating is at 44 percent while his disapproval rating is at 55 percent, according to the online survey of some 49,000 Texans.
A slew of other polls have shown a similar trend as the pandemic has progressed, but this appears to be the first poll showing more Texans disapproving of Abbott than approving.
Another poll of Texans earlier this month by the COVID-19 Consortium came close with only a four-point margin between Abbott’s approval and disapproval rating. A Quinnipiac University poll released this week showed the same margin.
Those numbers are likely to worsen as the spike in cases seen in the past several weeks continues to translate into an increase in deaths. On Wednesday, the state saw its highest number of yet fatalities: 197 Texans dead from the virus in a single day.
The question for 2022, the year Abbott is up for re-election, is whether Texans will forget how Abbott handled the pandemic. Judging from this month’s approval ratings, it appears Texans are keenly aware the buck stops with Trump and Abbott.
As of Wednesday, 361,125 cases have been reported in the state and 4,521 Texans have died from the virus.
Photo: Drew Anthony Smith/Getty Images
Fernando covers Texas politics and government at the Texas Signal. Before joining the Signal, Fernando spent two years at the Houston Chronicle and previously interned at Houston’s NPR station News 88.7. He is a graduate of the University of Houston, Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, and enjoys reading, highlighting things, and arguing on social media. You can follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93 or email at fernando@texassignalarchive.com
