Poll: Cruz leads O’Rourke by 6 points in Texas

Sen. Ted Cruz (R) holds a 6-point lead over Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D) in the race for Senate in Texas, according to a Quinnipiac University poll out Wednesday.

Cruz’s support comes in at 49 percent among Texas voters, according to the survey. O’Rourke comes in at 43 percent. 

{mosads}That’s a significantly smaller lead for the incumbent than he carried in a May Quinnipiac poll, which gave him a 50-39 percent lead over O’Rourke.

O’Rourke, a three-term congressman, also holds the lead among black, Hispanic and female voters, while Cruz has the majority backing of white and male voters, the Quinnipiac poll found.

The Senate fight in deep-red Texas has become increasingly competitive — and expensive. O’Rourke raked in a whopping $10.4 million in fundraising between April and June. That’s significantly more than the roughly $4.1 million raised by Cruz in the same period.

Texas has long been considered a Republican stronghold. The state has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988, and the current race is rated as a likely Republican win by the Cook Political Report. 

But another poll by the Texas Lyceum released earlier Tuesday showed a much closer race than Quinnipiac’s survey, giving Cruz a slight 41-39 percent lead over O’Rourke among likely voters.

The Quinnipiac poll surveyed 1,118 Texas voters from July 26 to 31. It has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.