Former President Donald Trump is leading President Joe Biden in a hypothetical general election matchup in Texas by 8 points, according to a new poll.
The University of Texas/Texas Politics Project survey found Trump leading Biden 45% to 37% in the Lone Star State, with 13% preferring "someone else" and 8% giving no opinion.
None of the Republican candidates challenging Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination seem to be affecting his position as the front-runner in the state.
The former president has a 49-point advantage over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to the poll, with 62% of those surveyed saying they plan to vote for Trump and 13% saying they plan to vote for the Sunshine State governor.
In the case of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Trump's yawning advantage has widened further, to 55 points. Just 3% of respondents said they would vote for one of the seven other candidates.
In hypothetical matchups between Biden and the top Republican candidates, only Trump surpasses the poll's margin of error in beating the incumbent Democrat president.
More than a third of voters, or 35%, said immigration or border security was the most important issue facing Texas, with 60% of Republican voters citing one or the other as the most important problem facing the state. The two issues were cited by 43% of independents, while just 9% of Democrats said the same.
Biden has frequently come under fire from Republican lawmakers for the migrant crisis at the southern border, with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, saying last month that "the next planner of 9/11" will likely travel to Mexico, "come right across, and Joe Biden and the idiots in his administration will fly you to wherever you want to go in this country."
Earlier this month, Biden found himself in the unusual position of having to defend his administration's decision to waive 26 federal laws in South Texas to allow for the construction of approximately 20 miles of additional border wall, which critics decried as a stunning White House reversal.
A longtime critic of Trump's border wall, Biden has been under increasing pressure from Democrat governors and mayors to stem the flow of illegal migration into their communities.
The poll was conducted Oct. 5-17 and surveyed 1,200 self-declared registered Texas voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.83%.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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