Name: Abbott’s approval plummets amid pandemic, poll says
Brand: statesman.com
SKU: statesman-com-34
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Abbott’s approval plummets amid pandemic, poll says

preview

Jonathan TiloveView CommentsNearly two-thirds of Texas voters believe the coronavirus pandemic is “out of control” in the state, and they are split down the middle on Gov. Greg Abbott’s handling of the crisis, a steep decline in confidence in the last seven weeks, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.The survey comes as state health officials reported new records Wednesday in the number of deaths attributed to the virus — 197 — and the number of patients being treated in Texas hospitals — 10,893.The state’s virus death toll is now 4,348 and the statewide hospitalization figure has exceeded 10,000 for 13 days in a row.The Texas Department of State Health Services also reported 9,879 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday, slightly below record levels reached last week."The governor takes a big hit for his haste in trying to jump start the state. Popular just seven weeks ago, his approval rating drops precipitously," said Quinnipiac polling analyst Tim Malloy.The poll found 47% approving and 48% disapproving of Abbott’s leadership of the crisis response, a 21-point swing in his net approval from the survey released in early June, when 56% approved and 36% disapproved.“The people who open early are vulnerable because in the minds of Americans it didn’t work, in fact, it backfired,” Malloy said. “Abbott was a very popular governor in June. When you look at this right now, at least for the moment, he’s not a very popular governor.”The poll of 880 self-identified registered voters in Texas was conducted July 16-20 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.The slide in Abbott’s numbers since the last Quinnipiac Texas Poll, conducted May 28 to June 1, was most obvious among Republicans, whose disapproval of his pandemic performance increased from 11% to 24%, and especially among independents, whose disapproval soared from 35% to 54%.Abbott’s dilemmaThe new poll results underscore Abbott’s political dilemma, caught between his party’s base and the broader Texas public.Retired Army Lt. Col. Allen West, voted the state GOP chairman on Monday, appealed to grassroots opposition to what he described as the “tyranny” of the governor’s executive orders and mandates, and criticism of Abbott for being too halting in reopening the economy and keeping it open.That is not a view shared, according to Quinnipiac, by most Texans, alarmed by their increasingly direct experience with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.Nearly three-quarters of respondents call the pandemic a serious problem and 66% say they know someone who had been diagnosed with the disease. That last figure is a 31-point increase since Quinnipiac’s last Texas survey, when 35% said they personally knew someone who had been diagnosed with COVID-19."The concern is palpable as the number of virus victims soars and it’s getting more personal every day as the patient lists increasingly include friends, family and neighbors," Malloy said.More than half of voters — 52% — say that, on reflection, Abbott reopened the economy “too quickly,” with 33% percent saying he restarted the economy "at about the right pace," and 13% saying he did it "too slowly."More than three-quarters of voters say they believe that Abbott’s decision to once again shutter bars in late June was an effective strategy in slowing the spread of the coronavirus.Stay-home orders?Quinnipiac found that 80% of voters approve of Abbott's order requiring most people in Texas to wear a face mask in public. Only 19% disapprove. Among Democrats, 95% back the mask mandate, compared to 87% of independents and 64% of Republicans.Just over half of poll respondents think Abbott should not issue a statewide stay-at-home order, but more than two thirds said he should allow local officials to issue stay-home orders for their jurisdictions.Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez issued a for all residents on Monday, amid a worsening outbreak in the Rio Grande Valley. An Abbott spokesman was quick to say the order could not be enforced.The poll found that 42% of voters like the way Abbott is handling the reopening of schools, and 46% don’t.The Quinnipiac pollf also found that 69% of voters are either somewhat or very concerned about Texas hospitals running out of space.“I think It’s interesting that 7 out of 10 people are really worried that there’s going to be a hospital bed available for them if they get sick,” Malloy said.But the level of public alarm is at least somewhat a product of the governor’s daily appearances on local TV news broadcasts, where he for weeks grimly underscored the peril the pandemic poses to Texans.Abbott’s overall job approval numbers are down from 56% positive and 32% negative in June, to 48% positive and 44% negative.More Texans view President Donald Trump’s job performance negatively — 51% — than positively — 45%. That’s little changed from a month ago.There also hasn’t been much change in voters’ views of Trump’s handling of the crisis. In the new survey, 45% view Trump’s pandemic response positively to 53% negatively, compared to a 47% to 51% split in June.Trump-BidenThe poll found Trump and Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, locked in what amounts to a dead heat in Texas — 45% for Biden to 44% for Trump. A month ago it was 44% Trump to 43% Biden."With crises swirling through American society and a country deeply divided, there’s no other way to slice it. It’s a tossup in Texas,” Malloy said.In the race for U.S. Senate, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, the Republican incumbent, leads Democratic nominee MJ Hegar 47% to 38%.Quinnipiac also asked about Confederate monuments and found that 52% of Texas voters oppose removing Confederate statues from public spaces around the country. Eighty-six percent of Republicans oppose removing those statues, while 71% of Democrats would like to see them gone.Staff writer Nicole Cobler contributed to this report.View Comments

Jonathan TiloveView CommentsNearly two-thirds of Texas voters believe the coronavirus pandemic is “out of control” in the state, and they are split down the middle on Gov. Greg Abbott’s handling of the crisis, a steep decline in confidence in the last seven weeks, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.The survey comes as state health officials reported new records Wednesday in the number of deaths attributed to the virus — 197 — and the number of patients being treated in Texas hospitals — 10,893.The state’s virus death toll is now 4,348 and the statewide...

Abbott’s approval plummets amid pandemic, poll says

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS