Matthew McConaughey would be next Texas governor if election was held right now

Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey would be governor of Texas if the election was held today, according to a new poll, as momentum builds around the star for the state’s top office.

The surprising results show McConaughey currently has more support than the incumbent, Republican Greg Abbot.

The poll conducted by The Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Tyler found that in a hypothetical election, McConaughey gained 45% support, Abbott received 33%, and 22% said they would vote for someone else.

While the actor has not formally confirmed he would run for governor in 2022, McConaughey increased speculation about his plans last week when he said it’s a “true consideration.”

Although Democrats (66% to 8%) and Independents (44% to 28%) broke highly in favor of McConaughey, Abbot still holds a strong lead over the actor with Republicans (56% to 30%).

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The outpouring of support for McConaughey could be from the recent goodwill he has done for his native state.

In February of this year, the actor held a star-studded fundraiser for victims of the Texas floods and raised a staggering $7.8 million.

There were an array of A-list guests among the lineup including: Jennifer Garner, Jamie Foxx, Megan Thee Stallion, Post Malone and Woody Harrelson.

He’s also frequently seen on campus at the University of Texas in Austin, where he officially joined the faculty of his alma mater as a professor in the Department of Radio-Television-Film in 2019.

When it comes to political ideologies, the Dallas Buyer’s Club star has made it abundantly clear that he is a moderate and fiercely defends his stance.

“I’m a ‘Meet You in the Middle’ man,” McConaughey said according to USA Today.

“When I say ‘aggressively centric,’ that sometimes gets parceled over there with ‘Oh, that’s a shade of gray, a compromise.’ And I say, ‘Bullshit. That’s a dare. Right now, that’s radical. You wanna be brave?”

McConaughey believes that taking a centrist approach provides “more agility” and “more adaptability.”

“Because there’s different situations for different sides. Sometimes the left is better at this, sometimes the right. There’s different choices for different circumstances.”

Though this may be a problem if he decided to run as the poll found that Democrats prefer a progressive candidate over a centrist (51% to 25%) and only 20% of Republicans are interested in voting for a centrist.

He also believes that the political stereotypes of the left and right do more harm than good.

“The left thinks the right’s racist and the right thinks the left’s socialist. Well, that ain’t true,” McConaughey said.

“Then you go, well, the left is for empathy, compassion and solidarity; well the right’s for resilience and work ethic and responsibility. I’m like, I like all six of those. Those are values that our mamas taught us. The right and the left don’t have ownership of those, excluding the other side.”

Gun control is the only firm policy stance that McConaughey has firmly spoken out on.

In March 2018, he spoke at the March for Our Lives rally in Austin calling for banning assault weapons for civilians and closing loopholes in the background check system.

“Those are the three main stipulations,” McConaughey said at the rally, “and to those three, I can say — if you can say it with me — all right, all right, all right.”

It remains unclear whether in reality, voters will buy into McConaughey’s centrist approach at the polls or whether the actor will have to draw from A-list politicians of the past and use his charisma and personality to win over voters.

We will have to wait and see...

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