HD 78: Republicans Tout El Paso Times Poll Which Has Margo Leading Joe Moddy

There have been a number of rumblings this week in Republican circles about a new poll that shows Joe Moody (D-El Paso) trailing Dee Margo (R-El Paso) in the race for the open seat in HD 78 (Margo, a right-wing Republican, defeated moderate Republican Pat Haggerty in the March primary).

Who conducted the poll? The El Paso Times, but there is a problem:

The Reuel Group conducted the El Paso Times/NewsChannel 9 automated poll of 1,842 registered voters in the district June 16-18. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

It was an automated poll. And, I am not sure if it isn’t appropriate to wonder whether or not it offered its text in Spanish for many El Paso residents who may be more comfortable “talking politics” in that language.

As Texas Weekly’s Ross Ramsey told the Times, it comes as no surprise that Margo has some kind of a lead given the brutal and expensive primary in which he was so recently engaged.  However, to me, eight points seems more like a simple “bad poll number” than anything near reality.

There will be a lot of money spent on this race from people across the state, and it is clear this is one of the top five target races Democrats must win in order to be able to have a chance at not only defeating Tom Craddick but also regaining a majority and electing a Democratic speaker.

Luckily, Margo has no shortage of baggage and a list of opinions and positions so right-wing in nature they simply aren’t appealing to the majority of mainstream voters in El Paso.

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