Democrats' Chances of Beating Texas GOP as Trump Hosts Rally in Robstown

Recent polling shows Texas Republicans with leads over their Democratic opponents as former President Donald Trump is scheduled to hold a "Save America" rally in the state on Saturday night.

In the state's gubernatorial race, a polling average compiled by FiveThirtyEight, shows incumbent Republican Governor Greg Abbott with a nearly 8 point lead over his Democratic opponent, former Representative Beto O'Rouke. The governor has support from 51.3 percent of voters, while O'Rourke has 43.4 percent.

Trump is heading to Robstown, Texas, ahead of the midterms for a rally to drum up support for GOP candidates in races for attorney general and lieutenant governor. Abbott will not be attending because he is taking part of a fundraising event in Florida, a move that some political analysts found "interesting" given that the elections are a few weeks away, local news station KIIITV reported.

Meanwhile, a poll released on Friday by the University of Texas/Texas Politics Project shows Abbott leading O'Rourke by an even higher margin—54 to 43 percent.

James Henson, a University of Texas pollster, said in a statement on the university's website that immigration and border security "continue to unify Republicans like no other issue: 60% say this issue area is most important to their vote – an embrace that encompasses a share of Republicans larger than the total share of Democrats selecting the top three Democratic issues."

Henson added: "This makes it much easier to grab Republican voters' attention and hang onto it through the course of the campaign."

The same poll found incumbent GOP Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick leading his Democratic challenger Mike Collier 51 to 36 percent. Ken Paxton, the state's Republican attorney general, is also ahead of his Democratic challenger Rochelle Garza by a 14-point margin, leading 51 to 37 percent. The poll surveyed 883 likely voters and has a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.

Earlier this month, a poll from Marist College found a slightly smaller lead for Abbott in the governor's race. The incumbent governor had support from 49 percent of voters while O'Rourke had 45 percent. That poll had a margin of error of 4.4 percent and surveyed 1,058 likely voters.

In a statement to Newsweek on Saturday, Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said: "Texas Republicans think having our disgraced, twice-impeached former president in Robstown tonight is going to help them shore up support for their radical, far-right candidates in South Texas and statewide."

He continued: "Inviting the man who has villainized Latinos time and again, locked migrant children in cages, separated families, and fueled racist lies demonstrates just how little Republicans actually think of us. And flying in a politician who's spent his entire career conning working men and women in order to make himself and his rich cronies even richer shows how out of touch Republicans are with our values."

Newsweek has reached out to the Texas GOP as well as Abbott and O'Rourke's campaigns for comment.