Davis Optimistic Despite Long Odds

Democrat Wendy Davis, trying to energize young voters on the University of Texas campus in Austin Monday, said she’s seeing hopeful turnout trends despite a torrent of polls that show she’s losing the governor’s race to Attorney General Greg Abbott by double digits.

According to the latest figures from the office of the Texas Secretary of State, turnout so far is slightly lower in the largest counties than it was in 2010, though it’s impossible to compare the two mid-term elections until all the numbers are in.

In Harris County, where Democrats need to boost turnout significantly, in-person early voting is down by about 30 percent, according to the Houston Chronicle. Early voting ends Friday, and Election Day is Tuesday.

Despite the daunting odds, Davis said her campaign’s own analysis of the early vote shows her supporters are showing up at the polls.

“Our voters are turning out in greater numbers than those who are supporting Abbott in this race,” Davis said. “Every day we run through the model of the voters that come through early votes and we’re able to determine from looking at that that more people who are inclined to vote for me are showing up and voting.”

Publicly available polls show Davis is trailing far behind Abbott. In the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls, for example, Davis was trailing more than 14 points behind the Republican attorney general. 

Davis dismissed the surveys as “internet polls” that are “wildly inaccurate.”

Disclosure: UT-Austin is a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.