Will high-profile support for O’Rourke make a difference in Senate race versus Cruz?

A new poll released by Emerson College on Monday has Sen. Ted Cruz (R) leading El Paso Congressman Beto O’Rourke by just one point in their race for senate.

The poll found that Cruz leads O’Rourke 38 to 37 percent. Four percent of voters favor other candidates, while 21 percent remain undecided.

The poll comes on the heels of a video of O’Rourke’s stance on NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem went viral.

Ellen Degeneres, LeBron James, and Khalid all shared the video on social media, showing support for O’Rourke.

Meanwhile, Cruz has released an advertisement in response to his Senate opponent’s stance on the NFL protests. Cruz’s ad features O’Rourke’s viral video. O’Rourke said he could “think of nothing more American.”

Cruz’s ad shows Vietnam Veteran Tim Lee, who disagrees with O’Rourke and says all able-bodied Americans should stand for the flag and National Anthem.

The ad states: “Liberal Hollywood was thrilled, but do Texans agree?”

ABC-7 caught up with Oscar-nominated actor Ethan Hawke, who was in El Paso to promote “Blaze” a new film he directed.

“[O’Rourke’s] reminiscent of an old-fashioned American, with that old-fashioned idealism about bringing people together and making us all be in service of a larger idea, as opposed to what’s dividing us. I find that really exciting,” Hawke said.

Hawke said he disagreed with the Cruz campaign’s criticism.

“T his guy is not a liberal Hollywood person,” Hawke said. “A lot of times as an actor, you’re one of the only citizens that’s given a voice…the press will put you on TV, but you’re still a citizen, and you’re still allowed to have an opinion.”

El Paso Community College political science professor Amber Archuleta-Lucero said she believes the spotlight O’Rourke has gotten will help his campaign.

“T here’s still some people that don’t know Representative O’rourke in parts of Texas,” Archuleta-Lucero said. “T o get those individuals to the polls will be the greatest challenge for Representative O’rourke. You can be on all of the social media outlets you want, and it’s going to come down to that voting day. ”