AUSTIN — Texans back many things Gov. Greg Abbott is doing to halt a migrant influx at the U.S.-Mexico border, but support for his state-built wall has ebbed, according to a Dallas Morning News-University of Texas at Tyler poll released Sunday.
Abbott’s order for state police to inspect all inbound trucks from Mexico is supported by 70% of registered voters, and opposed by only 20%, even if economists blamed it for a brief spike in food prices last month, the poll showed.
But a 47-45 plurality opposes using state funds to extend the border wall begun by former President Donald Trump. In both January and February, by 48-37, more Texans agreed than disagreed that a wall is necessary for a safe border. This month, that shrank to just 44-42.
Though Democratic critics dismiss Abbott’s escalating set of border security tactics as a political stunt, UT-Tyler political scientist Mark Owens said the two-term Republican’s doggedness is paying some electoral dividends.
“Abbott shows a commitment to implement those strategies until they are successful,” said Owens, the poll’s director. “The visibility on all fronts is part of why the governor has a 15% advantage over President [Joe] Biden in public approval for how they are handling the border.”
Poll participant and Republican voter Kevin Culp, 60, of Rowlett said he’s delighted Abbott has sent state National Guard troops to the border. Culp, a service technician, also applauded the governor’s short-lived April orders for truck inspections at international bridges. And he likes the state’s ongoing offers of free bus rides to migrants released by federal authorities in Texas.
“I want to extend that busing part,” said Culp, who ripped Biden and congressional leaders for inaction on the migrant surge. With sarcasm, he urged Abbott to expand the number of places in the nation’s capital where the state-chartered buses drop off migrants.
“[U.S. House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi needs some, and also [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer and now [Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell,” he said. “They all need them on their front doorstep. That way, they can take care of them.
Methodology
The Dallas Morning News/UT-Tyler Poll is a statewide random sample of 1,232 registered voters conducted between May 2-10. The mixed-mode sample includes 412 registered voters surveyed over the phone by the University of Texas at Tyler with support from ReconMR and 820 registered voters randomly selected from Dynata’s panel of online respondents. The margin of error for a sample of 1,232 registered voters in Texas is +/- 2.8 percentage points, and the more conservative margin of sampling error that includes design effects from this poll is +/- 3.1 percentage points for a 95% confidence interval. The online and phone surveys were conducted in English and Spanish. Using information from the 2020 Current Population Survey and office of the Texas Secretary of State, the sample’s gender, age, race/ethnicity, education, metropolitan density and vote choice were matched to the population of registered voters in Texas.
