Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) holds a five-point lead over Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) in a hypothetical general election race for U.S. Senate in Texas, according to a University of Texas Tyler poll.
The poll shows that 42 percent of registered voters would back Cruz, who said in February he would seek reelection, while 37 percent would get behind Allred, who announced his candidacy earlier this month in an ad that began with a focus on the January 6 Capitol riot, as Breitbart News noted. Allred, a former National Football League player, slightly outperforms Cruz with independents at 33 percent to 32 percent.
Cruz’s single-digit lead is a wider margin than his 2018 election victory over Democrat Beto O’Rourke, which he won with 50.9 percent of the vote to O’Rourke’s 48.3 percent.
Cruz’s net favorability rating pings at -8 points. Of the respondents, 41 percent find Cruz favorable, including 20 percent who find him “very favorable,” while 49 percent see him as unfavorable, with a 36 percent plurality stating he is “Very unfavorable.” Four percent say they need to know more before making a determination.
Among independents, 34 percent see Cruz favorably, and 54 percent perceive him as unfavorable.
Regarding Allred, nearly half of all participants, 48 percent, say they do not know enough to rate his favorability. Of those who have made a decision, 21 percent see him positively versus 19 percent who view him negatively. Over half of the independents sampled, 55 percent, did not know enough to rate him one way or the other. Another 13 percent hold favorable views compared to 17 percent who have unfavorable views.
KXAN reports that State Sen. Roland Gutierrez (D-TX) is rumored to be weighing a bid, setting up a potential challenger to Allred.
The poll also asked respondents open-endedly to choose “the most important policy facing Texas today.” A plurality of 30 percent say “Securing the border” is the most pressing issue, while “Gun control” was second with 17 percent of the response. “Inflation” was the third most popular response at ten percent, followed by “Education” (eight percent) and “Reproductive rights” (six percent).
The University of Texas Tyler poll sampled 1,413 registered voters between May 10-21, and its margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.
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