Joe Biden has twice the support as any other Democratic candidate in Texas but would still narrowly lose the state to President Trump, according to a new Dallas Morning News/Univ. of Texas-Tyler poll. Biden is the first choice of 38% of respondents “who identify as Democrat,” followed by Bernie Sanders (19%), Elizabeth Warren (17%) and Michael Bloomberg (13%). No other candidate’s support reaches 5%. In November, UT-Tyler found Biden’s lead over Sanders was 9 points, 28%-19%, among Democrats.
Trump narrowly bests Biden, 44%-42%, and Bloomberg, 45%-42%, though both results are within the poll’s stated margin of error of ±2.87%. Independents break almost evenly between Biden (36%) and Trump (34%) with 30% saying “neither” or “other.” Bloomberg does slightly better among independents (39%-34%) but worse among Democrats. Trump leads Sanders, 45%-39%, and Warren, 46%-37%. Respondents were almost evenly split on Trump’s job performance with 45% approving and 47% disapproving, a slight improvement from the 43/49 rating in November.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R) has a 38/30 approval rating, including a 63/9 rating among Republicans. All four of his primary opponents polled in the low single digits, but 36% of Republican voters “aren’t sure whom they’ll support.” None of the Democratic candidates has the support of even 10% of respondents, as 56% said they were “not sure,” which is an increase from 52% in November.
The poll of 1,169 registered voters was in the field January 21-30. The survey included phone interviews and online surveys in English and Spanish.
Registration Deadline: Tomorrow (Monday) is the deadline to register to vote in order to participate in the March 3 primary election. An estimated 2.36M Texans are eligible to vote but not registered.
HD25 open: Texas Right to Life PAC endorsed Rhonda Seth to succeed the retiring Speaker Dennis Bonnen (R-Angleton).
HD27: Gov. Greg Abbott (R) endorsed Manish Seth for the Republican nomination to challenge Rep. Ron Reynolds (D-Missouri City).
HD97: The Fort Worth Star-Telegram endorsed Elizabeth Beck for the Democratic nomination to challenge Rep. Craig Goldman (R-Fort Worth).
HD116: The San Antonio Express-News endorsed Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer (D-San Antonio) and Fernando Padron (R) for their respective party nominations.
CD17 open: Texans for Fiscal Responsibility/Empower Texans endorsed George Hindman to succeed the retiring U.S. Rep. Bill Flores (R-Bryan).
CD26: The Dallas Morning News endorsed U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Lewisville) and Mat Pruneda (D) for their respective party nominations.
©2020 Texas Election Source LLC
