Texas Sen. Ted Cruz leads Democrat Beto O’Rourke by six percentage points, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.
The survey, one of the few independent, nonpartisan pollsters offering data on the race, showed Cruz at 49 percent. O’Rourke, a congressman from El Paso, took 43 percent.
“O’Rourke makes a good impression on voters, but only about half the Texas electorate has formed an opinion of him,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac Poll, said in a statement. “Sen. Cruz has a good favorability overall and is the much better known of the two men.”
The poll was conducted July 26-31 and has a margin of error of +/-3.5 percentage points. It surveyed 1,118 Texas voters.
Cruz touts near universal name identification after a presidential bid two years ago, while 43 percent of respondents didn’t know enough about O’Rourke to form an opinion.
Cruz’s job approval was 50 percent, with 42 percent disapproving. O’Rourke’s approval/disapproval numbers were 33-22 percent.
O’Rourke has been campaigning aggressively to introduce himself to voters. He’ll have time to keep going this month while Congress is in recess. The House does not plan to return to Washington until after Labor Day.
The Senate, on the other hand, plans to recess this week and then return to Washington in mid-August.
The Quinnipiac poll showed President Donald Trump’s approval among Texans at 46 percent favorable, 49 percent unfavorable..
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is not up for re-election until 2020, had a job approval of 39-30 percent.
A Texas Lyceum poll taken July 9-26 put Cruz ahead, 41-39 percent. That poll has a margin of error of +/- 4.67 percentage points.
Andrea Drusch: 202-383-6056, @AndreaDrusch