TYLER, Texas — A new survey shows Gov. Greg Abbott holds a seven-point lead over Beto O'Rourke.
The University of Texas at Tyler and the Dallas Morning News conducted a survey of more than 1,000 random Texas voters to find out what issues matter most.
The issues include Senate Bill 8, critical race theory, border control and COVID-19.
Dr. Mark Owens, Associate Professor at UT Tyler, says the survey showed division amongst republican and democratic voters.
"Sixty-one percent of republicans think it's more important to secure the border and 71% of democrats think it's more important to strengthen the electricity grid," Dr. Owens said.
Although Gov. Abbott holds a lead over O'Rourke, that lead has shrunk from 11 points since the Jan. survey.
Owens says this was expected because republicans are challenging Gov. Abbott in this month, and so is O'Rourke. He says O'Rourke is focusing more on Abbott than the other democratic candidates.
While O'Rourke is trailing behind Abbott, he's still the leading among democratic candidates.
Owens says incumbents such as Gov. Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick are doing "very well" compared to the rest of the candidates.
He says Attorney General Ken Paxton only has about 39% percent support across the state right now and "might have to extend his campaign into May."
Going head-to-head with Paxton is U.S. Congressman Louie Gohmert. In East Texas, Gohmert and Paxton are tied. Owens says with Gohmert, an East Texan on the ballot, it might encourage more East Texans to head to the polls.
"The opportunity here is a change where you get a little bit more participation in East Texas than you might think you would expect across the rest of the state," Owens said. "And that is because we have lots of potential elections.in our region."
The survey also revealed a 10% increase among Latino respondents. Owens says the community is showing a growing interest in who the candidates are and whether they will go vote. He adds this could be attributed to growing Latino representation on the ballot.