On Friday Texas Lyceum released its annual statewide poll, a major survey on the top issues facing Texans and their opinion on Texas leaders.
The biggest attention-grabbing news from the poll is just how close things are at the top of the ticket in the 2022 gubernatorial race.
Gov. Greg Abbott leads Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke by only two percentage points, 42 to 40, according to the poll.
(The poll of registered voters also shows 14 percent haven’t thought about it or are voting for someone else.)
It’s the tightest polling released on the race yet. On average, polling on the race since January shows Abbott leading O’Rourke by 8 percentage points according to RealClearPolitics.
Other highlights of the statewide poll include:
- 61 percent of voters believe the country is on the wrong track instead of moving in the right direction.
- The top issues facing the country according to voters are the economy (17%), inflation and rising prices (17%), Russia/threat from Russia (10%), energy/gas prices (7%) and political corruption/leadership (6%).
- The most important issues facing Texans are border security (14%), inflation/rising prices (9%), political corruption/leadership (9%), energy/gas prices (9%) and the economy (8%).
- 43 percent of voters believe Joe Biden is doing a very good job or somewhat good job.
- 47 percent of voters approve or somewhat approve of Gov. Greg Abbott.
- 50 percent of Texans believe they are spending too much income on housing.
- 85 percent of Texans are either extremely or very concerned with the situation between Russia and Ukraine.
“We’ve been hearing anecdotal evidence for months about the impacts of inflation on ordinary Texans and for years about the impact of housing costs,” read a prepared statement by Joshua Blank, Texas Lyceum Research Director. “But the 2022 Texas Lyceum poll shows just how widespread these problems really are. And maybe most surprisingly, these problems are not concentrated in any one part of the state, or among any single group.”
The survey reached 926 registered voters through the phone between March 11-20.
Original photo: Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons
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
