Border issues driving Abbott lead over O'Rourke in Texas: poll

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has a seven-point lead over Democratic rival Beto O'Rourke in the state's gubernatorial contest, a recent poll revealed.

Abbott commanded 53% support among likely voters to O'Rourke's 46%, per a Quinnipiac survey released Wednesday. The disparity largely comes from independents, who backed Abbott over O'Rourke by the exact same margin. Both candidates earned 96% support from their own parties.

On policies, respondents decidedly favored Abbot to handle the economy (56-41), the southern border (54-43), and gun policy (53-44), while O'Rourke was the preferred candidate on abortion rights (48-46).

That slight lead on abortion issues may not be of much benefit to O'Rourke as voters 38% of voters identified the southern border as the biggest issue in the race while just 17% said it was abortion rights.

Abbott leads O'Rourke by 8.0%, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.