Donald Trump & The Republican Party Face A ‘Serious Situation’ In Texas, Journalist Says

Texas Tribune Washington Bureau Chief Abby Livingston appeared on MSNBC on Sunday and spoke about the recent polling that showed presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden leading Donald Trump. As reported by Raw Story, the journalist said that internal GOP polling had similar results and suggested that the odds the traditionally Republican region will turn Democrats are as high as they’ve been since Bill Clinton was president.

“The internal polling is matching this,” she said.

“This is a serious situation for Republicans. I think the question going into the fall is, will some of these Republicans who support Joe Biden come home to the GOP or whether these numbers hold if the national parties start investing serious resources into the state — could they move one direction or the other with a concerted television campaign.”

Livingston pointed to the results of the 2016 midterms, which saw parts of Texas that were predicted to go to the GOP shift to Democrats. According to Livingston, this shift is being driven by the down-ballot effect.

“You have House legislative candidates getting out the vote and maybe even destigmatizing what it is to be a Democrat in the state of Texas,” she said.

The MSNBC contributor also suggested that Texas has an “affinity” for Biden, pointing to the fact that the state helped turn the tide for the former vice president in the Democratic primary after his South Carolina win.

As reported by CNN, a new Quinnipiac University poll showed Biden barely edging out Trump with 45 percent support to the president’s 44. As the publication noted, Texas has voted for Republican candidates in every presidential election since 1980.

Regardless, Trump’s campaign doesn’t seem to be worried. Per The Dallas Morning News, Trump’s new campaign manager, Bill Stepien, brushed aside recent polls suggesting that Biden was giving Trump competition.

Stepien even offered to purchase the first ad for Biden in the Dallas or Houston media markets, which he encouraged the Democratic Party to focus on should they want a chance of winning. As the publication noted, Biden has already started running ads in the region that take aim at Trump’s coronavirus response, although they don’t mention his name explicitly.

As The Inquisitr reported, a Dallas Morning News/University of Texas at Tyler poll from May showed both candidates with 43 percent support. Although the survey put Trump’s approval rating at 45 percent, the majority of respondents disapproved of his COVID-19 response, suggesting that his leadership amid the pandemic could pose a problem for his re-election.