O’Rourke within 4 points of Cruz in new poll

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) holds a narrow 4-point lead over Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) in the race for Senate in Texas, according to a new poll by CBS Dallas-Fort Worth/Dixie Strategies.

When asked whom they would vote for if the election were to take place today, 46 percent of voters in the sample said they would support the incumbent Cruz, while 42 percent say they would vote for O’Rourke. That margin falls within the survey’s margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points

Independent voters were almost evenly split, with 40 percent of those surveyed saying they would vote for Cruz and 38 percent saying they would vote for O’Rourke.

{mosads}O’Rourke’s campaign is hoping to seize on the independent voters who are looking for a change from Cruz. The race is tight in a state that has not had a Democratic senator in more than two decades. 

“Senator Cruz is in a race that is tighter than it should be, considering Texas is a conservative state,” Brian Graham, managing partner of Dixie Strategies, said of the poll’s results.

A number of other polls have also pointed to a narrowing margin between the candidates.

A poll put out by Emerson College at the end of August showed Cruz with just a 1-point lead over O’Rourke, well within the margin of error. 

According to the RealClearPolitics average of polls, Cruz has a 3.2-point lead.

The CBS Dallas-Fort Worth/Dixie Strategies poll also found President Trump has a statewide approval rating of 51 percent with 46 percent disapproving of the president. Ninety-one percent of voters who identified as Republicans said they had a favorable view of the president, while 84 percent of Democrats disapproved.

The poll comes weeks after Trump announced he would hold a “major rally” for Cruz in October as the Texas senator battles for reelection.

CBS Dallas-Forth Worth/Dixie Strategies polled 519 “likely voters” in Texas in the survey.