Vice President Kamala Harris has cut Donald Trump’s lead in Texas nearly by half, according to a new Poll released Thursday.
The poll, conducted by the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public affairs, Harris trails Trump by just 5 points, 49.5%-44.6%, cutting nearly in half the advantage Trump held over biden. In a July poll, also conducted by the UH, Trump had a 9 point lead over President Joe Biden, 49%-40%.
The poll shows that Harris gained considerable support from independent voters and women in Texas. Now, Harris has more support from women than Trump by 6 percentage points.
Since Biden withdrew from the presidential race, Harris has gained overwhelming support, with numerous polls putting her ahead of Trump. Now that the initial momentum that Harris’ campaign gained has decreased, the presidential race is tight.
According to The Texas Tribune, Harris’ campaign does not intend to make much of a play for Texas, arguing the high cost of advertising in the state. Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon noted that they would use resources for other more competitive states.
This survey also shows that U.S. Colin Allred is cutting the distance between him and U.S. Sen Ted Cruz. In the poll, Cruz leads Allred by just 2 points, 46.6%-44.5%. Though the UH notes that the distance remains virtually unchanged, now Cruz’s lead falls within the poll’s margin of error of 2.65%.
On Thursday at the Democratic National Convention, he addressed the poll and dismissed Cruz’s lead.
“This is a race that’s going to come down to the things that we do together over the next 75 days,” Allred said. “I’m going to be giving you every single thing I’ve got.”
Cruz narrowly won his last reelection against Democrat Beto O’Rourke by just 2.6 percentage points in 2018.
