Ted Cruz has a 9-point advantage on Beto O’Rourke: Poll

.

Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz has widened his lead on Democratic challenger Rep. Beto O’Rourke in their marquee race to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate, according to a new poll.

Cruz has support among 54 percent of likely voters, enjoying a 9 percentage point advantage on fundraising powerhouse O’Rourke, a Quinnipiac University survey released Tuesday found.

Cruz wins Republicans, men, women, and white voters, while black and Hispanic voters back O’Rourke, the study reported. While more than half of independent voters break for O’Rourke, a majority of the poll’s respondents approve of the job Cruz has done in the Senate.

[Ted Cruz: If Beto O’Rourke wins, barbecue will be banned in Texas]

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is leading the Democratic candidate, former Dallas Sheriff Lupe Valdez, by almost 20 percentage points in Texas’ other statewide race, the poll also found.

Additionally, the state’s likely voters are split on whether they like President Trump’s job performance, with 49 percent approving and disapproving of his leadership.

The poll is good news for Cruz after a series of surveys revealed a closer-than-expected race in the traditionally red state of Texas.

White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney discussed Cruz’s vulnerability earlier in the month in a closed-door meeting of Republican donors in New York City after O’Rourke out-fundraised his opponent in the second quarter of 2018.

“There’s a very real possibility we will win a race for Senate in Florida and lose a race in Texas for Senate, O.K.?” Mulvaney said, the New York Times reported. “I don’t think it’s likely, but it’s a possibility. How likable is a candidate? That still counts.”

Quinnipiac University polled 807 likely voters in Texas from Sept. 11-17 via landlines and cell phones. The study’s results have a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.1 percentage points.

Related Content

Related Content