New poll of Texas voters shows Abbott with 5-point lead over O'Rourke, though gap has been closing

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A new poll of registered Texas voters shows Gov. Greg Abbott and Democrat Beto O'Rourke within five percentage points of each other.

The Texas Politics Project poll released Wednesday morning shows 45% of voters saying they would vote for incumbent Abbott and 40% of voters favoring O'Rourke. This is the closest the two candidates have been since February in polls conducted by this particular organization.

Seven percent of those surveyed said they would vote for another candidate, while 8% said they haven't thought about it enough yet to choose.

The new poll surveyed 1,200 registered Texas voters during a little over a two-week period: Aug. 26 through Sept. 6. The margin of error is +/- 2.83%.

In recent months, the gap between Abbott and O'Rourke was widest in April, when the two candidates were separated by 11 percentage points, according to data from Texas Politics Project.

The poll also surveyed respondents in the lieutenant governor and attorney general races.

Republican incumbent Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick holds a 7-point lead over Democratic challenger Mike Collier — 39% to 32%. A much greater percentage of people said they currently held no opinion, as compared to the governor's race.

In the attorney general race, the poll shows Republican incumbent Ken Paxton leading Democrat Rochelle Garza 38% to 33%. Meanwhile, 21% said they currently had no opinion.

Election Day is Nov. 8, with early voting set to begin on Oct. 24. The deadline to register to vote in the midterm election is Oct. 11.