(Abby Liebing, The Western Journal) The Texas gubernatorial race is already getting interesting even though the election is still nearly a year away.
Source – The Federalist Papers
by Abby Liebing, The Western Journal, November 22nd, 2021
Last week, former Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke announced his plans to challenge Gov. Greg Abbott in 2022.
O’Rourke, who was a 2018 U.S. Senate candidate and a 2020 presidential candidate (briefly), has sharply criticized the Republican governor.
The Democrat has taken issue with Abbott’s support for legislation boosting election integrity, limiting abortions and allowing Texans to carry handguns without a permit, according to The Texas Tribune. He also has criticized the governor’s responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and the power failure during winter storms in February.
It remains to be seen whether that will be a winning message, but right now, Texans would rather have actor Matthew McConaughey as their governor than O’Rourke.
Participants were asked whether they would be more likely to support McConaughey or O’Rourke if the actor entered the race.
Forty-nine percent answered McConaughey compared with 27 percent for O’Rourke — a 22-point difference. Nineteen percent said they would choose someone else, and 4 percent refused to answer.
The poll featured a statewide random sample of 1,106 registered voters surveyed via telephone and online Nov. 9-16 and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
McConaughey has not announced a campaign for governor but has talked about it.
Politico reported in May that he had said it was a “true consideration” and he was “quietly making calls to influential people in Texas political circles, including a deep-pocketed moderate Republican and energy CEO, to take their temperature on the race.”
The Hill reported in September that McConaughey said he was still “measuring it.”
Asked later by The New York Times what he meant by that, he said, “I like to measure things before I partake. And you’ve got to partake before you’ve partook.”
Pressed further, he said, “Who am I going to be? Where can I be most useful? Is politics an embassy for me to be of the most use to myself, to my family, to the most amount of people in my life moving forward?”
In October, the actor told NPR host Scott Simon that he was not running for governor — unless he decides to do so.
“I am not — until I am … It’s got to be personal for me, but it’s also got to be the most useful thing for the most amount of people,” McConaughey said.
At the moment, he is not running for governor. Yet Texans still prefer him over O’Rourke — and even over the incumbent.
The survey found that McConaughey topped Abbott by 8 points, 43 percent to 35 percent. Twenty-two percent said they would pick someone else.
But the poll also found that if all three candidates ran, O’Rourke and McConaughey would split the anti-Abbott vote 26 to 27 percent, while 37 percent would support the incumbent.
Some of the bipartisan support McConaughey enjoys likely would be eroded if he were to run for governor and have to take positions on issues.
“He appears to be simply enjoying the publicity. It doesn’t work that way. He needs to pick a party. … Nobody knows what this guy stands for,” said Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
As McConaughey himself said during a podcast in September, “I’m more of a folksy and philosopher-poet-statesman than I am a, per se, definitive politician.”
Stillness in the Storm Editor: Why did we post this?
The news is important to all people because it is where we come to know new things about the world, which leads to the development of more life goals that lead to life wisdom. The news also serves as a social connection tool, as we tend to relate to those who know about and believe the things we do. With the power of an open truth-seeking mind in hand, the individual can grow wise and the collective can prosper.
– Justin
Not sure how to make sense of this? Want to learn how to discern like a pro? Read this essential guide to discernment, analysis of claims, and understanding the truth in a world of deception: 4 Key Steps of Discernment – Advanced Truth-Seeking Tools.
Stillness in the Storm Editor’s note: Did you find a spelling error or grammatical mistake? Send an email to [email protected], with the error and suggested correction, along with the headline and url. Do you think this article needs an update? Or do you just have some feedback? Send us an email at [email protected]. Thank you for reading.
Source:
Support our work! (Avoid Big Tech PayPal and Patreon)DIRECT DONATION
Leave a Reply