Politics Elections received the following polling memo from Courageous Conservatives PAC:
TEXANS 28-44 NEGATIVE ON BETO; SEE HIM AS PHONY, INEXPERIENCED, LEFT-WING, PRO-OPEN BORDERS
Trump, Cornyn Beat Beto by THIRTEEN in New Poll
A January survey of more than 500 Texans likely to vote in the 2020 election is bad news for defeated U.S. Senate candidate Robert “Beto” O’Rourke.
O’Rourke, who narrowly lost to Ted Cruz in the 2018 Senate contest, wouldn’t fare as well against Senator John Cornyn, who is up in 2020, according to a poll released by the pro-Trump Courageous Conservatives PAC. Cornyn leads O’Rourke 50-37 in that contest.
O’Rourke has been mentioned as a possible Trump opponent in 2020, but he’ll have to put together 270 electoral votes without those from Texas, where Trump beats him by a whopping 52-39 margin.
O’Rourke’s problems stem from his poor favorable/unfavorable numbers. Just 28 percent of Texas voters view O’Rourke favorably while 44 percent have an unfavorable view.
Among those voters favorable to O’Rourke, 27 percent said they liked his energy and personality. 19 percent liked his views, 11 percent called him honest and 11 percent said he was “for the people.” 6 percent thought he ran a good campaign. 5 percent described him as open-minded. 2 percent of voters liked the following: immigration stance, down to earth, young.
Other answers: courageous (2), stands for Texas values (2), should be president, good job in Congress, family values, uniting the country, not Ted Cruz, grassroots candidate, not a typical politician, fighter, deserves a chance, moderate stance, views on health care.
With the much larger pool of O’Rourke unfavorables, 28 percent said he was too liberal, a socialist or a communist. 11 percent said he did a bad job in office, 10 percent said he is dishonest or a liar, 8 percent says he has a bad attitude, 7 percent say he supports open borders, 5 percent dislike his views, 5 percent say he is inexperienced, 3 percent say he doesn’t stand for Texas, 2 percent say he is wishy-washy, 2 percent dislike his abortion stand. Other answers: remarks about police (3), too young (2), voting record (2), a disgrace (2), all show, anti-NRA, talks with his hands too much, big government, not believable, acts like outsider, cruel, not a good politician, not wrapped in reality, out for himself, manipulating college students, wants to legalize marijuana, negative ads on Ted Cruz, for big business, not in tune with America, wants to give away our country.
O’Rourke is 25-48 net unfavorable with men and 32-41 with women. His favorable rating does not exceed 34 percent with any age group and his unfavorables are near or above 50 percent with everyone 50 and over. He is just 33-19 with voters under 35. He is 61-8 with those who participated in the 2018 Democratic Primary. O’Rourke is 26-51 negative with those who attend religious services at least once a week, and 30-41 negative with those who never attend.
Trump beats O’Rourke 56-35 with men and 49-43 with women. He wins 60-35 with voters over 65, 56-34 with those between 50 and 64 while O’Rourke leads 49-43 with voters between 35 and 49. O’Rourke leads Trump by 51-30 among those under 35.
“Along with Colin Allred in District 32, Robert “Beto” O’Rourke is one of the two most extreme leftists that North & South Texas have produced in a century,” according to Christopher Ekstrom, chairman of the Courageous Conservatives PAC. “Socialism is back in Texas, and a reckoning is required to vanquish it again.”
Atlantic Media & Research of Nags Head, North Carolina surveyed 504 registered voters with live operators for Courageous Conservatives PAC. Respondents either voted in the 2016 general election or registered since that time and said their chances of voting in the 2020 presidential election were “definite” or “very likely.” 49 percent of respondents were reached on cellphones and 7 percent of surveys were completed in Spanish. The theoretical margin of error is +/- 4.4 percent in 95 percent of cases. Calls were completed between January 5-11, 2019.