With 50 days to go, Texas is Looking Good for McCain!

With 50 days left until the election, Texas is leaning towards John McCain. According to Pollster.com, McCain has a 50.3% lead over Obama’s 43.4%. The past four presidential elections have all gone republican. The results are listed below:

Past Elections: 2004: Kerry: 38%
Bush: 61%

2000: Gore: 38%
Bush: 59%

1996: Clinton: 44%
Dole: 49%

1992: Clinton: 37%
Bush: 41%

Texas has a Republican Governor, Rick Perry, and both senators, Kay Bailey Hutchinson and John Cornyn, are Republican. Texas has 13 Democrat Representatives and 19 Republican Representatives. Senator Cornyn is up for re-election this November. He faces Democratic state legislator Rick Noriega. Recent polls indicate that this race is in a dead heat. A Rasmussen Reports telephone poll of 500 likely voters gave Cornyn a lead of just four percentage points, 47 percent support to 43 percent for Noriega. The poll’s margin of error was 4 percent. A separate survey of 600 Texan voters by the Democratic-leaning Daily Kos Web site gave Cornyn a 48-to-44 percent advantage, again with a four-point margin of error. Despite this, Cornyn has a lot more funding than Noriega. At the end of March, Cornyn had $8.7 million in cash on hand. Noriega had just less than $330,000. The biggest issue dividing the two contenders is the war in Iraq. Noriega wants to pull troops out while Cornyn believes we need to finish the job in Iraq. One advantage for Noriega is that he is Mexican/American. If the Hispanic voters turn out, this could be a huge advantage for him.

Here are some statistics on Texans and the economy in Texas:
Race/Ethnic Origin: White 10,933,313 (52.4%); Black 2,364,255 (11.3%); Asian 554,445 (2.7%); Native Am. 68,859 (0.3%); Hawaiian 10,757 (0.1%); Two+ races 230,567 (1.1%); Other 19,958 (0.1%); Hisp. Origin 6,669,666 (32.0%)
Education:75.7%% H.S. Grad:; 23.2%% College Grad:
Military Veterans: 1,754,809 (11.7%); WWII: 17.1%; Korea:11.7%; Vietnam: 34.6%; Gulf War:13.3%
Industry: Agriculture: 2.7%; Construction: 8.1%; Finance: 6.8%; Information: 3.1%; Manufacturing: 17.6%; Professional: 28.8%; Public Administration: 4.5%; Trade: 15.9%; Other: 12.5%
Work Force:
Work Sector: Private:78.0%; Govt:14.6%; Self:7.1%; Family:0.3%; Unemployment:6.0%
Median Household Income: $39,927
15.4% are below the poverty line
17.0% less than $15,000
27.0% $15-35,000
16.5% $35-50,000
27.9% $50-100,000
7.2% $100-150,000
4.3% more than $150,000
Median Home Value: $77,800
27.6% less than $50,000
38.4% $50-100,000
24.6% $100-200,000
5.5% $200-300,000
2.6% $300-500,000
1.3% more than $500,000

Key issues for Texan voters include immigration, education, and the war in Iraq.

Texas has 34 electoral votes.