TEXAS — As Texas Gov. Greg Abbott faces reelection in 2022, support for him to remain in office is waning, according to the latest poll of registered state voters conducted by Quinnipiac University.

What You Need To Know

  • The latest poll conducted by Quinnipiac University finds waning support for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's 2022 reelection bid

  • Support for Matthew McConaughey and Beto O'Rourke, neither of whom has announced a run, is low as well

  • Registered Texas voters additionally gave President Joe Biden low marks for job performance 

  • The poll was conducted in late September and involved 863 registered voters in Texas 

The poll, made available on Tuesday, shows that voters responded 51-42% that Abbott should not remain in office. In June of this year 48% of respondents said he should not remain in office and 46% said he should.

The poll additionally shows Abbott has 83-12% job approval rating among Republicans, 43-47% among independents and 89-6% among Democrats.

The poll doesn’t bode particularly well for Democrat Beto O’Rourke or actor and Austin resident Matthew McConaughey either. Neither has announced a run but respondents by 50-33% said they do not think O’Rourke would make a good governor and by 49-25% that McConaughey is not suitable for office.

"A lukewarm to downright cool response to an Abbott rerun in Austin, but compared to the high-profile young guns who may have eyes on a possible gubernatorial run, the governor is tall in the saddle” Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said in a news release announcing the results of the poll.

Voters were asked to weigh in on Abbott’s handling of four issues, of which only one garnered a positive score:

  • Handling the economy: 53% approve, while 39% disapprove;
  • Handling the situation at the Mexican border: 43% approve, while 46% disapprove;
  • Handling the response to the coronavirus: 46% approve, while 50% disapprove;
  • Handling the issue of abortion: 37% approve, while 53% disapprove.

Respondents were nearly split on whether the governor is taking the state in the right direction with 48% indicating that he is not and 45% that he is.

On the topic of whether Abbott would make a good president, 67% of voters polled said he would not and 24% said yes.

Registered Texas voters aren’t giving President Joe Biden high marks either. The poll gives him a 32-61% job approval rating.

The poll found that Texas voters by 53-41% support the recently announced audit of 2020 election results in four of the state’s largest counties. However, by 51-43% they indicated they do not believe there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

According to Quinnipiac University, 863 registered voters were surveyed between Sept. 24 and 27 and the poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.3 percentage points.