49 percent of Texas women prefer Wendy Davis' opponent to her
Win McNamee/Getty Images
Texas State Sen. Wendy Davis (D) was always a long shot to become the Lone Star State's next governor, and a new PPP poll casts even more doubt on her odds of pulling a stunning upset.
In the survey, Davis trails Attorney General Greg Abbott (R) by a daunting 51 percent to 37 percent split. As if that weren't bad enough, Davis also trails Abbott among female respondents; 49 percent of women say they prefer Abbott, while 41 percent pick Davis. Meanwhile, only one-third of female respondents say they have a favorable impression of Davis.
Those findings are surprising given that Davis rose to national prominence by championing reproductive rights and staging a filibuster of a restrictive abortion bill. Indeed, when Davis first got in the race, many on the left were optimistic her sudden fame would help her at least run competitively, if not win.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Yet Davis' campaign was met not with resounding support, but rather with a little kerfuffle over how she'd embellished her biography. Perhaps as a result, 47 percent of voters view her unfavorably, up from just 29 percent in November.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.
-
Europe’s apples are peppered with toxic pesticidesUnder the Radar Campaign groups say existing EU regulations don’t account for risk of ‘cocktail effect’
-
Political cartoons for February 1Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include Tom Homan's offer, the Fox News filter, and more
-
Will SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic make 2026 the year of mega tech listings?In Depth SpaceX float may come as soon as this year, and would be the largest IPO in history
-
Trump sues IRS for $10B over tax record leaksSpeed Read The president is claiming ‘reputational and financial harm’ from leaks of his tax information between 2018 and 2020
-
Trump, Senate Democrats reach DHS funding dealSpeed Read The deal will fund most of the government through September and the Department of Homeland Security for two weeks
-
Fed holds rates steady, bucking Trump pressureSpeed Read The Federal Reserve voted to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged
-
Judge slams ICE violations amid growing backlashSpeed Read ‘ICE is not a law unto itself,’ said a federal judge after the agency violated at least 96 court orders
-
Rep. Ilhan Omar attacked with unknown liquidSpeed Read This ‘small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work’
-
Democrats pledge Noem impeachment if not firedSpeed Read Trump is publicly defending the Homeland Security secretary
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
