Gubernatorial Poll: Abbott Leads Davis by 9 Points

Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott leads his Democratic opponent, Wendy Davis, by 9 percentage points, 49 percent to 40 percent, according to the latest Texas Lyceum poll, released Wednesday.

The poll showed Davis, a state senator from Fort Worth, held a “clear lead” among Hispanics, by 36 points, and African-Americans, by 80 points, while Abbott, the state attorney general, held a “slight lead” with independent voters, by 6 points, and women, by 2 points.

"Davis is running slightly ahead of other Democrats on the ballot and over-performs compared to Democrats from recent statewide races,” University of Texas Professor Daron Shaw, who conducted the poll, said in a statement. “But the number of candidates who have made up this kind of deficit in the last month, in a state where party ID favors the other side so consistently, is close to zero.”

Immediately following the release of the poll, Abbott sent out a press release noting his campaign had $30.1 million on hand for the “final push” of the race, raising $7.8 million since July. In July, Abbott had $35.6 million on hand, the largest amount ever recorded in the state, while Davis had $8.8 million.

The poll showed that in the lieutenant governor's race, state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, was ahead of state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, by 14 percentage points, 47 percent to 33 percent. Van de Putte led with African-Americans by 64 points and Hispanics by 24 points, but did not perform as well as Davis with either group.

The poll also said that Gov. Rick Perry's approval rating stayed steady at around 57 percent, despite his recent indictment. Of the respondents who knew of the indictment, 43 percent said it was too soon to determine whether he is guilty.

Texas Lyceum is a nonprofit public policy group with annual polls on state issues.

The poll surveyed 1,000 Texans in English and Spanish, about 70 percent of whom were likely voters. The poll took place from Sept. 11-25 and has a margin of error of +/- 3.8 percentage points. Among likely voters, 39 percent identified as Democrat, 50 percent Republican and 10 percent independent. Texas Lyceum poll numbers on state issues were released Tuesday.