Almost a third of Texas Democratic primary voters support Rep. Colin Allred in the race to represent the party as its Senate candidate against GOP incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz in November, a new poll shows.
The Emerson College Polling/Nexstar Media survey in Texas found 29% of Democratic primary voters plan to back Allred to face Cruz in November, 7% will pick state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, and 6% will go for Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez.
A total of 37% are undecided ahead of a March primary.
"Significant portions of several key constituent groups are undecided in the Democratic Senate primary, including Hispanic Democratic voters, Gen Z and Millennial voters, and voters without a college degree," said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling.
"To avoid a runoff, Allred needs to make inroads with these voters, like he has with Democrats in their 60s and those with postgraduate degrees, 52% of whom respectively support him."
In hypothetical general election matchups between Allred and Cruz — and Gutierrez and Cruz — are in statistical ties, the poll found:
- In a Cruz/Allred match, 42% support Cruz and 40% back Allred, with 8% choosing someone else.
- In a Cruz/Gutierrez race, 41% support Cruz, 40% back Gutierrez, and 8% would pick someone else.
- Hispanic voters break for Allred over Cruz 50% to 26%; white voters break for Cruz 55% to 32%.
- Allred leads Cruz among under-30 voters 41% to 25%, and among voters in their 30s, 41% to 30%. Allred leads among voters in their 40s, 43% to 36%.
- Cruz leads Allred among voters in their 50s 46% to 37%, among those in their 60s, 54% to 41% and with those over 70, 53% to 40%.
- Men break for Cruz 50% to 37%, women break for Allred, 43% to 36%.
In the presidential nominating contests, former President Donald Trump leads the Texas Republican Primary with 69% support, 11% back former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and 7% choose Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
In the Democratic presidential primary, 72% of voters support President Joe Biden, 6% Marianne Williamson, and 5% Dean Phillips; 17% are undecided.
In a potential match between Biden and Trump, the poll found 49% support Trump, 41% Biden, and 10% are undecided.
With third-party candidates, Robert Kennedy Jr., Cornel West, and Jill Stein added to the hypothetical ballot, 46% support Trump, 36% Biden, 5% Kennedy, and 1% support West and Stein respectively. A total of 12% are undecided.
The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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