Texas State Senator Wendy Davis' hopes as the next governor of Texas appears slim based on a survey conducted for KHOU-TV and Houston Public Media.

Davis, the Democratic candidate, was found to have a 15-percentage point disadvantage against Republican candidate Greg Abbott. Specifically, Abbott received 47 percent of the survey among likely voters, while 32 percent favored Davis. Many respondents were also undecided as 15 percent were not sure which candidate to vote for by the Nov. 4 Election Day.

While 2 percent of voters did not reveal their preferred candidate, Green Party candidate Brandon Palmer received 1.4 percent of the vote ahead of 0.7 percent for Libertarian candidate Kathie Glass.

According to Rice University political scientist and KHOU analyst Bob Stein, who supervised the poll, the double-digit lead for Abbott will be very hard to reverse, but moments, such as a "crisis, a major gaffe, something like that," could change the voting behavior.

The lieutenant governor's race also showed a similar pattern to the main gubernatorial race. Republican Dan Patrick has a double-digit lead over Democrat Leticia Van de Putte. Patrick received 36 percent of the poll while 24 percent favored Van de Putte. Although 2 percent preferred not to disclose their preferential candidate, 3.3 percent of respondents said they were voting for another candidate.

According to KHOU's Doug Miller, Democrats had hoped Van de Putte's name would attract Latinos to vote. Latino voters participating in the survey, with 34 percent, said they were undecided on who to vote for lieutenant governor. For the main gubernatorial race, 36 percent of Latino respondents were unsure.

"If Leticia Van de Putte has a name that's recognizable, it's not moving what we consider to be core Democratic voters. Self-identified Hispanics and self-identified Democrats are still undecided," Stein said.

The survey's Davis' supporters indicated Abbott will most likely win the election. Stein noted 54 percent of Davis' supporters predict Abbott will win on Nov. 4, while 22 percent were confident with their Democratic candidate.

According to Real Clear Politics, an assortment of polls between Sept. 11 and Oct. 16, including the KHOU and Houston Public Media poll, averaged to Abbott leading against Davis with 50.3 percent to 38 percent.

The poll's release comes as the early voting period commenced in Texas. The state's elections will include a voter identification law for registered voters. As Latin Post reported, Supreme Court ruled, in a 6-3 vote, Texas can enforce the controversial voter ID law. The U.S. Department of Justice has tried to prohibit the state from enacting the law as approximately 600,000 registered voters, many being black or Latino, lack a state ID in Texas.

According to Texas Secretary of State Nandita Berry, the state registered more voters than ever before by the Oct. 6 deadline. With about 14.02 million Texans registered to vote, Berry also identified the seven forms of photo ID voters can present to vote, which include a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) issued driver's license, Personal Identification Card, Concealed Handgun License and Election Identification Certificate. The other three forms of identification is a U.S. passport, citizenship certificate and military ID card, which all require the person's photograph. Berry's office noted that with the exception of the U.S. citizenship certificate, the other forms of photo ID can be current or expired no more than 60 days.

The KHOU-TV and Houston Public Media survey was conducted by University of Houston Center for Public Policy's Survey Research Center between Sept. 22 and Oct. 16.