Poll: Cruz, Clinton hold big leads in Texas

Ted Cruz leads the GOP field by double digits in Texas, a must-win for the home-state senator as he seeks to catch up with front-runner Donald Trump.

A Monmouth University survey released on Thursday found Cruz taking 38 percent support, followed by Donald Trump at 23 percent and Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) at 21 percent.

{mosads}A handful of other Texas surveys released in recent days have shown Cruz with a smaller lead. He has a 7.2-point advantage over Trump in Texas, according to the RealClearPolitics average.

“Cruz looks to be well-positioned in Texas,” said Monmouth pollster Patrick Murray. “The challenge for him is that a lot of other states are also on the slate for Super Tuesday.”

Texas and 10 other states will cast ballots in five days on March 1, when nearly a quarter of all delegates will be awarded.

The Lone Star State is by far the biggest prize, with 155 delegates up for grabs. Those delegates will be allocated proportionately, so even if Cruz pulls away from the field as this poll suggests, Trump and Rubio appear primed to at least make a dent in his haul.

Rounding out the field in Texas are Ben Carson at 6 percent and Ohio Gov. John Kasich at 5 percent.

Texas allows for early voting, and it appears that Cruz is harvesting votes from his lead in the polls.

Eighteen percent of Texas Republicans surveyed said they’ve already voted, with 44 voting for Cruz.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton is crushing Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), 64 to 30, in the Lone Star State.

The former secretary of State is running up the score on Sanders among black voters 81 to 8, among Latinos 68 to 32, and among women 75 to 19.

She also has a small lead among men and a 10-point advantage among the younger voters who have so far fueled Sanders’s candidacy.

The Monmouth survey of 456 likely Republican primary voters was conducted between Feb. 22 and Feb. 24 and has a 4.6-point margin of error. The Democratic survey of 304 likely voters has a 5.6-point margin of error.