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

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is leading his Democratic challenger, Rep. Beto O’Rourke (Texas), by four points among registered voters, according to a NBC News/Marist poll released Wednesday.

Cruz has 49 percent support among registered voters in the survey, with 45 percent for O’Rourke. About 6 percent of voters remain undecided.

The two candidates are essentially tied among independent voters, with 46 percent saying they support O’Rourke and 45 percent supporting Cruz. Both also have about 90 percent support among their party base.

{mosads}The poll, conducted among 970 adults, including 759 registered voters, has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points for all adults and 3.8 percentage points for registered voters.

The NBC/Marist poll is one of several recent surveys indicating a strikingly close race in the deep-red state, which has not elected a Democrat to the Senate in three decades.

O’Rourke has made national waves with a massive fundraising haul in the second quarter of the 2018 cycle, which was more than twice Cruz’s.

The Cook Political Report, a top nonpartisan election forecaster, recently shifted the race left to “lean Republican” from “likely Republican.”

Cruz also recently asked President Trump to come campaign for him in the race.