Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is for guns, and against voting, masks, gay marriage, and sex toys. He signed a bill offering citizen vigilantes bounties to sue strangers for exercising the constitutional right to an abortion.
So why is he so popular with Texas voters? Does he have a killer chili recipe?
Turns out he’s not.
Though he won almost 60% of the vote in 2014, and nearly 56% in 2018, now a majority of Texas voters think he sucks. By 47%-44%, they disapprove of his job performance; and by 51%-42%, they don’t think he deserves to be re-elected. (Read details here.) Probably some pandemic politics (i.e., bodies piling up) play into this. So, too, does last winter’s failure of the state’s stand-alone power grid that left millions freezing in the dark.
Getting rid of him isn’t that simple, though. First, Democrats need an appealing candidate. Second, what if only Republicans are allowed to vote? Although Texas is increasingly trending purple, I wouldn’t bet money on the urban centers breaking the rural iron grip on state-level politics. I’m not sure what that’ll take.
Closed schools and kids in ICUs because of the Republicans’ laissez-faire Covid-19 policies?
It is not unusual for a governor to be underwater in polls at this point in their term. The real question is where will the polls be 8 Nov 2022. [Edited comment.]