Despite controversies, Abbott maintains commanding lead in Texas gubernatorial race

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has faced withering criticism for using federal pandemic dollars to fund his border crackdown and arguing that immigrant children shouldn't be entitled to a public education.

Even so, the incumbent Republican maintains a seven-point lead in the state's gubernatorial race, according to a recent poll by the Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Tyler

The survey of 1,232 registered voters between May 2 and May 10 found that 46% of voters favor Abbott, while only 39% plan to vote for O'Rourke.

Abbott's favorability is underwater with Texas voters, according to the poll. Just 46% approve or strongly approve of the job he's doing as governor. However, that's slightly better than O'Rourke. Only 42% of those polled had a very favorable or somewhat favorable view of the Democratic candidate.

Another possible shortcoming for O'Rourke may be his comparative lack of a TV presence. Only 25% of those surveyed said they'd seen the former congressman and 2022 presidential candidate on TV more than his rival.

O'Rourke did gain some ground, though. He polled 1% better than the previous survey conducted in February.

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