Finally, Democrats Lead in a Texas Poll, But It May Not Matter

Texas Hispanics prefer Democratic nominee for governor Lupe Valdez over Republican incumbent Greg Abbott by a slim margin and Beto O’Rourke over Republican U.S. Senator Ted Cruz by a wider margin. But does it matter for a voting block that notoriously fails to turn out on Election Day?

The poll, conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy for the Telemundo Spanish language stations in Texas, gives Democrats a clear advantage among Hispanics in the November election. Valdez—who has virtually dropped off the radar in her campaign against Abbott—has been running on her appeal to Hispanic voters. But her 44 percent to 38 percent lead among self-identified Hispanic voters who say they are likely to cast a ballot puts her barely ahead of the governor when you consider the four-point margin of error of the poll. O’Rourke, by contrast, leads Cruz by a margin of 54 percent to 31 percent among the Texas Hispanics surveyed. Ironically, O’Rourke, who has gone by the Spanish nickname “Beto” all of his life, has been accused of cultural appropriation by some Hispanics, while Cruz, who is Hispanic, but has used the Anglicized nickname “Ted” most of his life, falls short among voters polled.

Both races suggest that neither Democrats nor Hispanics should take for granted the Hispanic vote in Texas. And these results come as a national poll commissioned by the NALEO Educational Fund/Latino Decisions poll shows Hispanics feel like they are being ignored by candidates nationwide. “This poll confirms what we have known for some time—that Latino voters are still being ignored by the nation’s major campaigns, political parties and funders. We are once again witnessing an overall lack of investment in Latino outreach efforts across the country in Election 2018, with the little funding that is available being diverted towards partisan outcomes,” said Arturo Vargas, NALEO Educational Fund chief executive officer.

In the two largest metros in Texas, the governor’s race is a dead heat among the Hispanic respondents in the Telemundo poll. In Dallas-Fort Worth, Valdez leads Abbott by a single percentage point: 41 percent to 40 percent. Valdez was serving as the elected Dallas County sheriff when she resigned last year to run against Abbott.

Read more: https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/finally-democrats-lead-texas-poll-may-not-matter/

This is a Texas Monthly article so it should not come as a surprise that they are trying to discourage Hispanics from voting.