University Of Texas Survey

The University of Texas conducted a survey of 600 Texans during the week of October 15-22. One part of the poll is very disturbing to many of us here in Texas. It showed that about 23% of Texans are complete and total idiots. That's the percentage of Texans who believe Barack Obama is a muslim.

This campaign has gone on for nearly two years, and Obama's life has been gone over with a fine-tooth comb. At this late date, anyone who believes Obama is anything other than a life-long christian is either feeble-minded or completely dishonest. I don't know which is worse, but frankly it kind of scares me to think that 23% of my neighbors are this outrageously ignorant. With no more brain-power than that, how did they ever learn to dress and feed themselves?

Now I can understand someone disagreeing with Obama's politics or his stand on the issues. I don't agree with them, but I can understand it. But the very least a voter can do is get the facts straight. A person should vote for whatever candidate they want to vote for, but they shouldn't base that vote on a lie that any ordinary third-grader can see through.

Aside from the fact that 23% of Texans are nitwits, the survey did have some other interesting statistics. For instance, 48% of Texans consider themselves to be conservative, while only 20% say they are liberal. The rest say they are moderates. That is a bit of a surprise to me, since I would have thought the percentage of conservatives would be higher. Maybe that's because I live in a very red part of the state.

Another surprise for me is that only 37% call themselves Republican, while 35% say they are Democrats and 28% identify themselves as Independents. In a state generally regarded to be a very "red" state, I would have thought the Republican percentage would be higher.

These figures seem to suggest that a good middle-of-the-road Democrat might be able to win state-wide office. That would be a change, since all state-wide offices are currently held by Republicans. Maybe the economy is even starting to have a political effect here in Texas. This is backed-up by the numbers Governor Perry received in the survey. He's making noises like he's going to run for another term, but only 38% approve of the job he's doing as governor.

The survey also shows McCain and Senator Cornyn with weaker numbers than would have been expected in a very red state. McCain leads Obama in Texas by 51% to 40% and Cornyn leads Noriega by 45% to 36%. At this late date, McCain has only 51% and Cornyn is still 5 points under 50%!

Most of the pundits still believe both of them will win, and they certainly might. But I'm not ready to concede yet. Texas is experiencing a record-breaking early vote, and that could carry through election day. With a record-breaking voter turnout, and many young people and African-Americans voting in larger numbers than ever before, those two races could be much closer than anyone suspects.

Texas is probably still a red state, but it looks like the political wind may be starting to blow in a new direction here. The future for Democratic candidates looks better than it has in a long time.