New Poll: Ted Cruz Surges to Commanding Lead in Texas Senate Race

A new Public Policy Polling survey shows former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz surging ahead of Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on the eve of the runoff election for the Republican nomination for United States Senator.

Poll has Cruz ahead by 10 points

The PPP poll, announced on July 29, shows Cruz ahead of Dewhurst at 52 percent to 42 percent. Cruz has a commanding lead with tea party members, 75 percent to 22 percent, as contrast with Dewhurst's lead among nontea party members of 56 percent to 39 percent. Cruz leads among voters who suggest that they are "very excited" about voting at 63 percent to 33 percent, as well as a 49 percent to 45 percent of voters who are "somewhat excited." Dewhurst leads among voters who are "not that excited" by 59 percent to 31 percent. Cruz leads 55 percent to 40 percent among Texans who have already voted as well as 49 percent to 44 percent among those who have yet to vote. Cruz leads 60 percent to 33 percent among voters between 18 and 45 and 59 percent to 35 percent among voters between 46 and 65. Dewhurst leads 56 percent to 39 percent among senior citizens.

The battle of the surrogates

The PPP poll also suggests that the support of Dewhurst by Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been ineffective. Texas voters indicated that they would be less likely to vote for a candidate supported by Perry by 16 percent to 35 percent. By contrast, Texans are more likely to support a candidate supported by Sarah Palin by 31 percent to 24 percent. Palin recently addressed an enthusiastic crowd in The Woodlands, a planned community north of Houston, on behalf of Cruz.

The Cruz surge

According to the Texas Secretary of State, Cruz forced a runoff in the May Republican primary, with a result that Dewhurst got about 48 percent of the vote while Cruz got 30 percent of the vote. If the PPP poll is accurate, this means that Cruz has changed a nearly 18 point deficit to a 10 point lead, a remarkable achievement.

The hard fought campaign

If Dewhurst loses to Cruz, it will not be for lack of trying to win. Dewhurst ran a blizzard of negative ads against Cruz, touching on his career as a private lawyer, representing a Chinese rubber company and a Pennsylvania man involved in a child exploitation scandal. The poll results suggest that those ads were not only ineffective, but may have been counter-productive. However the final results in the July 31 runoff election will tell the final version of the tale.

Texas resident Mark Whittington writes about state issues for the Yahoo! Contributor Network.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/poll-ted-cruz-surges-commanding-lead-texas-senate-213300871.html

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