A new poll of Texas voters gives incumbent Senator Ted Cruz a five-point lead over his Democratic rival Colin Allred.
If the election were held tomorrow, Cruz would win re-election with 51 percent of the vote to Allred’s 46 percent, according to a Marist poll of 1,186 likely voters released Thursday.
It shows Cruz performing better than in some other recent polls, which have led to Republican jitters that they could lose a deep-red state.
Elsewhere, Republicans are in a strong position to flip the Senate, with several opportunities to pick up seats.
But Democrats have seen Texas as a Republican seat that could be vulnerable.
Democrats think they can beat Sen. Ted Cruz in the November election, but he got some welcome news from the latest Marist poll of Texas voters
The new poll is good news for Cruz, but suggests Allred may not be out of the race.
Cruz, a strikingly prickly character who is unloved even by some in his own party, has a net favorability rating of zero.
Allred, a member of the House of Representatives, is viewed positively by 39 percent of respondents and unfavorably by 36 percent.
Then a quarter of voters say they don’t know who he is or aren’t sure how to judge him.
But he does have an 8-point lead over the independents.
At the same time, the data shows that Cruz is an underperforming Republican candidate for President Donald Trump, who has the support of 53 percent of voters.
It comes a day after the Florida Atlantic University poll gave Cruz just a three-point lead.
Colin Allred has represented Texas’ 32nd Congressional District since 2019 and is running for Senate. He has raised $30 million in the last three months
Democrats believe they have the energy and money to dump Cruz out
The numbers follow a familiar pattern. Six years ago, it looked like Democrat Beto O’Rourke would be on his way to a victory over the incumbent, only to lose by two and a half points on election night.
Once again, Democratic donors are putting their money where their mouths are. On Tuesday, Allred’s campaign announced it had raised more than $30 million in the past three months.
In contrast, Cruz and allied groups raised $21 million.
The next pivotal moment is expected next week, when the two men enter the debate stage.
Allred is a former professional football player and has represented Texas’ 32nd Congressional District since 2019.