Beto O’Rourke closing in on Abbott’s lead in Texas governor’s race, according to new poll

Beto O’Rourke continues to chip away at Gov. Greg Abbott’s lead in Texas’ gubernatorial election, according to a new poll showing the Democratic challenger trailing his Republican incumbent by just 5 points.

The poll, published Wednesday by the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs, shows O’Rourke polling at 44% in a survey of 1,169 registered voters. That compares to Abbott’s 49%.

The results are a slight uptick for O’Rourke from a poll published earlier this month by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Austin, which showed Abbott leading by 6 points.

According to the latest poll, Abbott holds a strong lead among white voters, 60% of which said they would vote for the Republican. Even so, O’Rourke maintains an overwhelming 72-point lead among Black voters and a 9-point lead with Latino voters.

O’Rourke is embarking next week on a grueling 49-day tour of the Lone Star State with 70 public events scheduled in 65 counties. At a recent campaign event in San Antonio on Monday, O’Rourke touched upon an array of policy issues, including access to abortion, the state’s troubled power grid and gun control.

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This article appears in Jul 13-26, 2022.