A new poll shows embattled House Speaker Dade Phelan is hemorrhaging support among likely Republican voters in his own House district.
The poll, commissioned by the Defend Texas Liberty PAC, reveals 49 percent of voters in Phelan’s district, District 21, have an unfavorable opinion of him while 35 percent have a favorable opinion.
The new polling shows a gradual slide from the beginning of the year.
In January, the same poll found Phelan had 66 percent favorability with only 10 percent unfavorability. In May that number slid to 36 percent favorable with 29 percent unfavorable.
Luke Macias, the PAC’s director, says he stands by the results.
“I challenge Dade Phelan and his campaign to produce a poll with different results in the next two weeks,” said Macias. “We are confident in these numbers and welcome a competing perspective. It’s very encouraging that Dade’s voters are seeing past his show horse rhetoric, and they understand we have a Speaker who is empowering Democrats and attacking conservatives.”
The drop in popularity comes after a legislative session where Phelan antagonized conservative voters by appointing Democrats to lead powerful House committees while failing to pass legislation on a variety of key issues such as banning Chinese ownership of Texas land, universal school choice, and border security.
He also helped spearhead the failed impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton, which has caused Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Donald Trump, and the Republican Party of Texas to call for his resignation.
The same poll shows voters in Phelan’s district have a 50 percent favorable opinion of Paxton with only 26 percent holding an unfavorable view.
Phelan has also drawn two challengers in the Republican primary.
As of publication, his campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
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