Polling by the Texas Politics Project conducted before early voting shows incumbent Greg Abbott is leading the gubernatorial race against challenger Beto O’Rourke among likely voters.

The poll also showed that incumbent Republican candidates are leading in all their respective races. 

Daron Shaw, a government professor and co-director of the Texas Politics Project, said researchers used a “likely voter screen” to determine whether or not a participant’s responses are considered. 

Shaw said the two screens measure how often a participant votes or how likely a participant is to vote, respectively. 

According to the poll, 60% of Republican voters cite immigration and border security as a top area “most important to their vote.” Democratic voter concerns are led by abortion at 26% but are spread across different issues such as gun violence, climate change and health care.

Ryan Stromberg, president of College Republicans at Texas, said he believes climate change is a big issue with young Republican voters, despite polling showing only 6% of Texans agree. 

“I never understood why Republicans would shy away from helping the environment,” government junior Stromberg said. “You’re a conservative, yet you don’t want to conserve the environment?” 

Stromberg said he agrees that the Republican party is unified on the issue of the economy, especially among young voters. 

“I feel like when the economy is doing bad, it kind of puts a lot of other issues on the back burner,” Stromberg said. “(Voters) want to be in a position where they’re not struggling to pay rent one day or (to) support a family.”

Raikolf Lopez, president of University Democrats, said young people in his party are concerned with student debt, wages and housing — all issues not listed in the poll.

“I’ve seen that young people, in general, are more concerned about what’s going on,” said Lopez, a government and sociology senior. ”There’s definitely a lot more energy than I’ve seen in other elections.”

However, Lopez and Stromberg acknowledged that voter turnout is low, especially compared to what Joshua Blank, research director of the Texas Politics Project, calls a “historic” turnout in 2018. 

“In general, what we are seeing is something of a disconnect between the electoral system and policy preferences in the state,” Blank said. “Texas is a very young and diverse state. … When you change your focus to the registered voter population, it becomes less young and less diverse.”