Abbott leads O’Rourke by 6 points with Texas voters focused on border: poll

Democrat Beto O’Rourke is trailing incumbent Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) by 6 points among likely Texas voters as November’s midterm elections approach, new polling shows. 

A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found 53 percent of likely voters in the state say they plan to cast their ballot for Abbott, while 46 percent said the same of O’Rourke. 

The Texas-Mexico border was the top issue for likely voters (38 percent), followed by abortion (17 percent) and inflation (11 percent). 

More likely voters polled said they trusted Abbott to deal with the economy, gun policy and “the situation at the Mexican border” than said the same of O’Rourke. 

On the other hand, more voters said they trusted O’Rourke to better handle abortion rights. 

The poll is in line with a number of recent surveys showing Abbott leading.

A Texas Hispanic Foundation poll released Sunday put Abbott ahead by 7 points, and a Emerson College-The Hill survey released Tuesday found the Republican with an 8-point lead. 

A poll released earlier this month from the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas had O’Rourke within 5 points of Abbott, but subsequent polls suggest Abbott may be widening his lead in the race. 

According to the new Quinnipiac poll, the two candidates are pulling the bulk of their support from their respective parties, as 96 percent of Republicans back Abbott and 96 percent of Democrats back O’Rourke.  

Among independents, 53 percent support the Republican nominee and 46 supporting the Democrat. 

The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted Sept. 22-26 and surveyed 1,327 likely Texas voters, its first survey of likely voters in the state. The margin of error was 2.7 percentage points.