(The Center Square) – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Houston, is leading his Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, by 44% to 36%, according to a new University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll.
The poll shows Allred gaining ground when compared to previous polls UT/TXPP conducted. In December, Allred trailed Cruz by 16 points. He narrowed the gap to “14 points in February, 13 points in April, 11 points in June, and now 8 points today,” Jim Henson, executive director of The Texas Politics Project, said in an analysis of the data.
“A large part of this narrowing is likely due to Allred consolidating the support of Democratic voters who may not be familiar with the Dallas-area representative,” he said.
In August 2023, 34% of Democrats held a favorable view of Allred compared to 11% who didn’t, according to UT/TXPP data. This August, 69% of Democrats held a favorable view compared to 7% who didn’t, according to the data.
Allred still lacks name recognition with roughly one-fifth of Democratic voters who “still don’t have a well-formed view of him,” Henson says.