Poll: Beto O’Rourke leads Cruz by 2 points in Texas Senate race

Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D) holds a 2-point lead over incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz (R) in a new poll of their Texas Senate race.

The Reuters–Ipsos–University of Virginia Center for Politics poll released on Wednesday found that 47 percent of voters said they favored O’Rourke, while 45 percent said they favored Cruz. 

{mosads}The survey, which was composed among a population of 992 adults, had a credibility interval of 4 percentage points. It was conducted between Sept. 6 and Sept. 14. 

A separate Quinnipiac poll released a day earlier found Cruz with a 9-point lead in a race that has drawn national attention, partly because of Cruz’s fame and partly because the state has not elected a Democrat to the Senate in three decades.

O’Rourke, who has gathered a national following in the race, has boosted Democratic hopes for defeating Cruz, and neutral observers say the race is competitive.

“There’s a possibility it could happen. I’m not saying probable. But it’s possible,” Larry Sabato, director of the UVA Center for Politics, told Reuters. 

The UVA poll also showed that Hispanic voters prefer O’Rourke over Cruz by a ratio of about 2-to-1, a much greater advantage than Cruz had in the Quinnipiac poll, which found that 54 percent of Hispanic voters support O’Rourke and 45 percent backed Cruz. 

An average of polling for the Texas Senate race produced  by RealClearPolitics shows Cruz up by 4 points. The Cook Political Report rates the race as “lean Republican.”