Matthew McConaughey crushes Beto O’Rourke 2-to-1 in Texas

New polling released Sunday shows actor Matthew McConaughey thrashing Democrat Beto O’Rourke 49-27 in a hypothetical head-to-head. 

The survey was conducted by the University of Texas and the Dallas Morning News, which also shows McConaughey winning against current Texas Gov. Greg Abbot by a smaller margin, 43-35. The remaining 22 percent would pick someone else. 

O’Rourke officially threw his hat in the ring last week. The former Congressman has become the face of the Democratic Party in Texas despite his loss to Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018 and failed bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

The poll predicts that O’Rourke and McConaughey would split the anti-Abbot vote if they both ran. A three-way race had Abbot at 37, McConaughey at 27, and O’Rourke at 26, but with O’Rourke taking 74 percent of Democratic voters. 

Speculation about the upcoming governor’s race is confounded by uncertainty over whether McConaughey identifies as a Republican or Democrat. The Academy Award-winning actor has been open about considering a run for governor, which this study shows would be devastating for O’Rourke’s chances. 

McConaughey is a Texas native and attended school at the University of Texas at Austin. He has spoken out about his experience as a practicing Christian in Hollywood and how those he has “prayed with before dinners, many times” often chose not to clap during his acceptance speeches that mention his faith.

"And when I thank God, I saw some of those people go to clap, but then notice that, 'This could be a bad thing on my resume,' and then sit back on their hands,” the Interstellar actor said during a podcast with Joe Rogan last year, but does not “judge them for it.” McConaughey was promoting his new memoir, Greenlights.

McConaughey has until December 13 to file for candidacy in the 2022 Texas governor’s race.