Poll: Cruz has slim lead over O’Rourke in Senate race

Republican Ted Cruz leads Democrat Beto O’Rourke 41 percent to 36 percent in the general election race for a Texas seat in the U.S. Senate, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

Neal Dikeman, the Libertarian Party nominee for U.S. Senate, garnered 2 percent, according to the survey. And 20 percent of registered voters said either that they would vote for someone else in an election held today (3 percent) or that they haven’t thought enough about the contest to have a preference (17 percent).

The June UT/TT Poll, conducted from June 8 to June 17, is an early look at the 2018 general election, a survey of registered voters – not of the “likely voters” whose intentions will become clearer in the weeks immediately preceding the election. If recent history is the guide, most registered voters won’t vote in November; according to the Texas secretary of state, only 34 percent of registered voters turned out in 2014, the last gubernatorial election year.

Cruz, the incumbent, is less well liked: 41 percent of the voters said they have a favorable impression of him, while 42 percent said they have a unfavorable one. In O’Rourke’s case, 37 percent said they have favorable impressions, while 24 percent said they have unfavorable opinions.

Read the full results of the poll, including the opinion of the candidates in other statewide races, in the article by the Texas Tribune.