Poll: Texas tips to political middle
ÃÛÌÒ½´Political Scientist Cal Jillson talks about a poll showing Texas in the political middle.
By Jason Embry
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Their presidential candidates don't even try to win here, and they haven't won a statewide election since 1994, but newly released poll findings say Democrats slightly outnumber Republicans in Texas.
The Gallup polling organization says that, based on its daily tracking polls during the 2008 election, 43 percent of Texans say they're Democrats or lean Democratic, compared with 41 percent who say they're Republicans or lean Republican.
The polls measure attitudes among all adults, not just those who are registered, or likely, to vote.
"I don't believe it for a minute," said Cal Jillson , a political science professor at ÃÛÌÒ½´Methodist University.
Texas is generally considered a Republican state. . .
 Jillson said voters who identify themselves as Democrats but repeatedly vote for Republicans are like those who say they disapprove of Congress but support their own member of Congress.
"It is true that Texas is moving slowly back into a competitive two-party status," Jillson said. "But I think this is still a decade away in terms of voting statewide."
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