Fort Worth-area voters have long been considered among the most conservative in Texas, and it shows in their responses in a new poll for the Star-Telegram and other major newspapers in the state.

Compared with voters statewide, those in Tarrant, Parker and Johnson counties were more likely to give President Barack Obama a low approval rating, to say they won't vote for a candidate who supports abortion rights and to believe that the best way to handle illegal immigration is to deport illegal immigrants.

"We're the most Republican major metropolitan area in Texas," said Jim Riddlesperger, a political science professor at Texas Christian University. "It's not really surprising."

Accordingly, local residents gave Obama the lowest approval rating of any metropolitan area in Texas, 39.1 percent, and the highest disapproval rating, 53.2 percent. Statewide, Obama drew a 40.5 percent approval rating and 48.1 percent disapproval rating.

"These numbers always vary by partisanship and ideology," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "The more Republican a city or county, the lower the approval rating for the other party's president."

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