AUSTIN – As the two leading candidates for Texas governor spar over how best to protect communities along the Texas-Mexico border from narco-violence raging in northern Mexico, the vast majority of Americans living along the Border feel safe in their own communities, according to a new public opinion poll.
When asked if they feel safe “living in a border community,” 67 percent of respondents said they did. Slightly more respondents said they “feel their border community is as safe as most U.S. neighborhoods.”
The results of the poll, conducted among residents of several border cities in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, was sponsored by the Border Network for Human Rights. Leaders of that organization have long been critical of Gov. Rick Perry’s understanding of border issues.
The findings of the poll, conducted by the El Paso-based Reuel Group, run in stark contrast to the picture painted by Gov. Rick Perry.
Perry campaign spokesman Mark Miner declined to comment directly on the poll results. However, Miner wrote in an e-mail, “The current and emerging threat are (t)ransnational gangs, which are infiltrating communities throughout our state, recruiting members from schools and prisons.”
Former Houston Mayor Bill White, a democrat who is challenging Perry’s bid for re-election, has – as far back as March – said the governor exaggerates the threat drug violence has on Texas communities.
Click here to read the entire poll report.
