46% Of Texans Think Matthew McConaughey As Governor Is 'Alright, Alright, Alright'

A new poll shows that Texans seem to support the idea of Matthew McConaughey’s gubernatorial aspirations

In a post-Trump, post-Governator world, it’s clear that anything goes when it comes to celebrities having serious political aspirations. After headlines began making the rounds that Matthew McConaughey was milling a run for governor of his home state of Texas, it certainly begged the question of whether or not voters would actually throw their support behind him — turns out voters on both sides of the political spectrum would support him over the state’s current governor, Republican Greg Abbott.

According to a poll recently released by The Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Tyler, 45 percent of registered voters in Texas would vote for the actor if he runs in the upcoming 2022 gubernatorial election, while 33 percent would vote for Abbott and 22 percent would vote for someone else.

That double-digit lead is a pretty big deal, seemingly signaling that even Republicans in the state are not happy with Abbott’s two-term leadership, notably during the pandemic, in which the state has seen record-high COVID rates at various points over the past year. Still, it seems 56 percent of Republican voters said they’d vote for Abbott, compared with 30 percent for McConaughey.

The poll was conducted April 6-13 and surveyed 1,126 registered Texas voters, with the results seeming to indicate at least early interest and/or curiosity in the actor as a viable gubernatorial candidate.

As for whether or not McConaughey is actually planning to run seems up in the air at the moment. He has been vocal about his criticism of both major parties, but little concrete information is known about his specific views.

He first addressed a potential run for office last November in an interview on The Hugh Hewitt Show to promote his memoir, Greenlights. At the time, he said, “politics seems to be a broken business to me right now. And when politics redefines its purpose, I could be a hell of a lot more interested. I still question how much you can really get done in politics, and I don’t know if politics is my avenue to get what maybe I am best equipped to get done.”

Last month, McConaughey confirmed that politics are “a true consideration,” telling The Balanced Voice podcast host Rania Mankarious that he’s “looking into, now again, what is [his] leadership role?”

He added, ” I do think I have some things to teach and share, and what is my role? What’s my category in my next chapter of life that I’m going into?”

He also appeared on CBS This Morning last month where he again expressed possible interest in a run.

“As I’ve said before, I’m giving it consideration,” he said in the CBS interview. “I would be a fool not to. It’s a very honorable thing to consider, you know, what that position would mean, what would it be for me, and what would it mean for the people of Texas.”

He has also been critical of Abbott recently lifting the statewide mask mandate and capacity limits in public spaces, pleading with Texans to continue wearing masks as the pandemic continues globally. Seems like we’ll have to stay tuned to see if he’ll bring his cowboy hats to public office.