Shock Poll Shows Joe Biden Holding 5-Point Lead Over Donald Trump In Normally Deep Red Texas
Texas could be ready to turn blue, a new poll shows.
A new poll from the Lonestar State shows Joe Biden is leading Donald Trump by a five-point margin, pushed largely by Trump’s sinking approval on handling of the coronavirus. The Dallas Morning News/University of Texas at Tyler poll showed that the former vice president had the support of 46 percent of voters to 41 percent for Trump. Another 14 percent remained undecided.
Biden pushed into the lead after the two had been tied at 43 percent support apiece in a previous poll from the same outlet conducted in April. The Dallas Morning News noted that the latest poll, conducted between June 29 and July 7, had a 2.24 percent margin of error, putting Biden’s lead outside of it.
Kenneth Bryant Jr., a political scientist at University of Texas at Tyler who helped to design the poll, said Trump is holding strong with Republican voters by losing by significant margin among moderate voters.
“While President Trump has and still enjoys near universal approval from Republicans, and overwhelming disfavor from Democrats, he has lost considerable ground among the folks in the middle, who may ultimately decide who wins Texas in November,” Bryant said.
Biden’s national lead has been growing over Trump as approval ratings for the president sink both on his handling of coronavirus and his approach to growing nationwide protests in the wake of George Floyd’s killing. A series of national polls have shown Biden with a 10-point lead or larger over Trump.
It was not clear if the Biden campaign planned to press the apparent advantage in Texas, where a win would likely make a path to Electoral College victory close to impossible for Trump. As The New York Times noted, the campaign has so far resisted calls to put any significant resources in some newly emerging battleground states, which also include longtime Republican strongholds Arizona and Georgia. The campaign has instead focused on the more traditional battleground states including Pennsylvania and Michigan.
Other polls have shown a close race in Texas and other key states. As The Inquisitr reported, a CBS News poll released on Sunday showed that Biden was leading Trump in the critical battleground state of Florida, while the two were in a virtual tie in Texas and Arizona.
The poll showed that Biden has been growing his support among women and non-white voters, and is also doing better than previous polls among senior voters, a demographic that was key for Trump in his surprising 2016 victory
