The opinion Texans have of Gov. Greg Abbott’s COVID-19 response has plummeted since April, the latest 50-state poll by the COVID-19 Consortium shows.
The survey, conducted by Harvard, Rutgers and other universities, shows the approval rating of Abbot’s pandemic response has sunk from 60 percent in April to 44 percent in late June.
The drop in approval, which steadily began declining in early May, corresponds with a rise in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Texas.
The same correlation was seen in recent polling by The Texas Politics Project, which saw Abbott’s job approval decreased from 56 percent in April to 49 percent in June.
As of Friday, 230,346 cumulative cases of coronavirus have been reported in Texas and 2,918 Texans have died from the virus. About 10,000 new daily cases of the virus have been reported in the past three days, according to state data. Reuters recently reported that more daily COVID-19 cases appeared in Texas than any European country.
On Wednesday, the state’s positivity rate, or the share of tests that come back positive, reached 15 percent, the highest infection rate reported by state data since the pandemic began.
Photo: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via 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
