Abbott gets a bump as poll shows Texans approve of transporting migrants to Democrat cities

Texas Governor Greg Abbott is experiencing some success with Texas voters since he started focusing on what he says is a crisis at the southern border a few weeks ago, according to a new poll.

The poll, published by Dallas Morning News/University of Texas at Tyler this week, showed Abbott’s lead over Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke expanded in recent weeks, giving him a new 9-point lead over the former Texas congressman.

The poll found 54 percent of respondents said they approved of Abbott’s handling of immigration, agreeing with his policy of shipping migrants from the southern border to cities like Washington, DC, Chicago, and New York to make a point to political leaders in those places about the influx of migrants presenting at the border.

While most Texans approve of sending migrants to Democratic cities, some have likened it to human trafficking.

Last week, Abbott sent busloads of migrants to be dropped off outside Vice President Kamala Harris’ Naval Observatory residence after she said in an interview that the border is “secure.” On Saturday, Abbott sent another busload of migrants to Harris’ other residence in Washington, DC.

Experts have credit Abbott’s advertising campaign for the bump in numbers.

“A clear change in the election is that the Abbott campaign started advertising and they went negative, while being the only campaign on the air,” said Mark Owens, poll director and political science professor at UT-Tyler. “Registered voters who say they saw the advertisements supported Gov. Abbott 23% more often.”