Republican candidates hold substantial leads in the major Texas races, according to a statewide poll conducted from Oct. 10 through Sunday.
The lastest online poll conducted by The Texas Tribune and the UT Texas Politics Project showed Attorney General Greg Abbott has a 16-point lead over State Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth.
In June, a previous UT/TT poll showed Abbott with a 12-point lead over Davis.
The latest Texas Tribune poll surveyed 1,200 registered Texas voters. For the lieutenant governor race, State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, trails State Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston by 17 points. In the attorney general race, the U.S. Senate race and land commissioner race, all leads were held by the Republican candidates.
“The substantial leads held by Republicans from the top to the bottom of the ballot suggest that the much-discussed demographic changes in the state are unlikely to translate into an immediate reversal of fortune for the Democratic Party in this election,” said James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project and a co-director of the poll.
Daron Shaw, government professor and poll co-director, said in a statement that the results of these statewide race polls had more to do with political affiliations than race.
“Very few race-specific dynamics exist in these down-ballot statewide races,” Shaw said. “They are really just expressions of the underlying partisanship of the Texas electorate, and that’s not good for Democrats these days.”
