Patrick Leads Goodwin in Texas Lt. Governor Race
ActiVote’s October 17, 2026 Texas Lt. Governor poll finds that Republican Lt. Governor Dan Patrick leads his Democratic challenger Vikki Goodwin by 7.6%. The poll was in the field between September 27 and October 17 (median field date of October 7). The poll was among 400 likely midterm voters and has an average expected error of 4.9%.
Patrick leads among rural and suburban voters, voters aged 30 to 49 and 65 and older, men, White voters, voters on middle and high incomes, and voters with a high school or college education. Goodwin leads among urban voters, voters under 30, voters aged 50 to 64, women, Black and Latino voters and graduate degree holders. Voters on low incomes are evenly split. These group figures rest on subsamples for which the expected error is considerably larger than the 4.9% for the poll as a whole. Texas does not register voters by party, so we do not report a breakdown by party affiliation.
Political Spectrum
The following graph shows the support for Patrick and Goodwin among left, moderate left, center, moderate right, and right voters. These groups are defined by splitting the Texas electorate in 5 equal sized groups of 20% each.
Patrick holds his side of the spectrum more firmly than Goodwin holds hers. Goodwin wins the left unanimously (100%) and takes 87% of the moderate left, while Patrick takes 98% of the right and 94% of the moderate right. On top of that, Patrick wins the center by 66% to 34%.
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 | 400 LV | Unweighted | Weighted | Dan Patrick | Vikki Goodwin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National | ±4.9% MoE | 100% | 100% | 53.8% | 46.2% |
| Political Spectrum | Left | 47% | 20% | 0% | 100% |
| Moderate Left | 23% | 20% | 13% | 87% | |
| Center | 8% | 20% | 66% | 34% | |
| Moderate Right | 9% | 20% | 94% | 6% | |
| Right | 13% | 20% | 98% | 2% | |
| Region | rural | 26% | 30% | 71% | 29% |
| suburban | 30% | 27% | 51% | 49% | |
| urban | 44% | 42% | 43% | 57% | |
| Age | 18-29 | 30% | 17% | 38% | 62% |
| 30-49 | 40% | 29% | 51% | 49% | |
| 50-64 | 19% | 23% | 47% | 53% | |
| 65+ | 11% | 30% | 71% | 29% | |
| Gender | F | 47% | 53% | 47% | 53% |
| M | 54% | 47% | 62% | 38% | |
| Ethnicity | White | 65% | 60% | 62% | 38% |
| Black | 9% | 8% | 26% | 74% | |
| Latino | 20% | 27% | 48% | 52% | |
| Income | Low | 23% | 21% | 50% | 50% |
| Middle | 31% | 26% | 56% | 44% | |
| High | 46% | 53% | 55% | 45% | |
| Education | HS | 21% | 22% | 56% | 44% |
| College | 64% | 64% | 56% | 44% | |
| Grad | 15% | 14% | 40% | 60% |
Every poll in this race
| Published | Patrick | Goodwin | Gap | Sample | MoE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 17, 2026 | 53.8% | 46.2% | R+7.6% | 400 | ±4.9% |