Cruz holds 5-point lead over Democrat in Texas Senate race: poll

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) holds a 5-point lead over the Democrat running for his seat, according to a new poll.

The University of Texas at Tyler poll found that 42 percent of registered voters would support Cruz in the 2024 Senate race, while 37 percent said they would back Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas).

Another 7 percent said they would support someone else, and 14 percent said they were unsure, the poll found. 

Among Texans surveyed, 41 percent said they had a favorable opinion of Cruz, while 49 percent said they had an unfavorable opinion of the senator.

Allred’s approval was above water, with 21 percent viewing him favorably compared to 19 percent who view him unfavorably. But nearly half of registered voters in the poll — 48 percent — said they didn’t know enough about the congressman from Dallas.

Allred launched his bid for the Lone Star Senate seat earlier this month, taking aim at Cruz in his campaign announcement video.

“We deserve a senator whose team is Texas, but Ted Cruz only cares about himself,” Allred said in the video. “You know that.”

A Democrat has not won a Senate race in Texas in 30 years. Cruz narrowly defeated former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) by about 2.5 points in 2018.

The UT Tyler poll was conducted May 10-21 with 1,413 registered voters and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.