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Recreational Pot Has Strong Support
in Poll that Shows AG Race Deadlock
Capitol Inside
August 14, 2022
Governor Greg Abbott and the Republicans in Austin are standing in the way of a prosperous new industry for the Lone Star State based on a new poll that found overwhelming support for the legalization of marijuana for recreational use. Fifty-five percent of the registered voters in the survey favored a repeal of the state's prohibition on recreational cannabis while only 35 percent were opposed.
The survey that the Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Tyler conducted this month found Abbott leading Democrat Beto O'Rourke by 7 points while Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick was up by a dozen in the top two races on the Texas ballot in the general election on November 8.
The poll that was taken during the first week in August gave Democrats cause for tempered optimism in their quest to break the GOP stranglehold on statewide offices with Attorney General Ken Paxton and Democrat Rochelle Garza in a statistical tie with the incumbent ahead by 2 points with only 34 percent support.
But Democrats will be disappointed to learn that the DMN/UT-Tyler survey found Abbott leading O'Rourke by the same exact margin that he had in May and in February before the primary election in March. Abbott has an average lead of 7 points in 14 independent polls that have been taken up in 2022 on the gubernatorial competition here this year.
Texans in the poll - ironically perhaps - had a more positive opinion of O'Rourke than Abbott despite the deficit in the polling on the governor's race. Abbott was underwater with a favorable rating of 47 percent compared to 49 percent of the participants who perceived him in a negative light.
One of the most disconcerting signs in the poll for Democrats could be Abbott's rating for his handling of immigration - with 51 percent giving him a thumbs up for his work on the issue compared to 42 percent who disapproved.
The DMN/UT-Tyler poll of 1,384 registered Texas voters found 51 percent support for Abbott's busing of migrants to Washington D.C. for their release there after processing by the federal government following their apprehension at the border. Only 31 percent disapproved of the migrant transportation program that the governor hatched in April.
The pollsters, however, failed to mention that Texas taxpayers are footing the bill for the migrant busing scheme or that it's been blasted by some conservatives as Abbott's way of spreading the problem of illegal immigration around the country. The governor appears to see that as a springboard for a potential presidential bid in 2024.
Seventy-percent of the voters in the newspaper poll supported Abbott's executive order in April that culminated in the inspection of all commercial vehicles that entered Texas from Mexico. A mere 30 percent opposed the plan. The pollsters did not elaborate on the fact that the Department of Public Safety truck stops cost the Texas economy more than $4 billion in lost trade while creating unprecedented chaos and gridlock in border cities and escalated supply chain problems here and around the nation while in effect for nine days during the spring.
Texans had more reservations about the state's construction of a border wall that Donald Trump had promised and failed to build - with 47 percent in favor and 42 percent opposed. The poll did not point out how much the resurrected border wall will cost taxpayers in Texas.
more to come ... |
