Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is leading Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) on virtually all fronts in the upcoming GOP Senate primary runoff, with a new survey showing him in an eight-point lead over the incumbent and also sweeping amongst Latino voters, young voters, and Trump-aligned voters.
A nonpartisan Texas Public Opinion Research (TPOR) poll of 1,225 likely Republican runoff voters published Friday indicated that Paxton has 48 percent of the vote, Cornyn has 40, and 11 percent remain undecided.
The survey, conducted on April 6 and 7, also found that Paxton is 18 points ahead with Latino voters, five points ahead with white voters, and is dominating the 18-34 year old demographic with a whopping 69-point lead.
Cornyn has a narrow two-point lead amongst voters aged 65 and older.
While President Donald Trump has yet to endorse a candidate in the race despite announcing in March that he would, the TPOR survey’s findings suggest that his pick for the Senate seat is not the metaphorical silver bullet in this race.
Just under half of respondents (49 percent) said a presidential endorsement would influence their vote, but the same number said it would not — with 33 percent saying it would have “no influence at all.”
If Trump did endorse Cornyn, the poll still showed Paxton winning with 45 percent to 42 percent. With a Trump endorsement of Paxton, he would win with 55 percent to 35 percent. Among Cornyn supporters, a Trump endorsement actually causes 25 percent to say they would be “much less likely” to vote for him, a stark indicator of Cornyn’s ideological support base.
Illustrating those figures is the finding that 58 percent of Republican voters see Paxton as more aligned with Trump’s “Make America Great Again” mission, with just 22 percent answering that Cornyn is.
On general political philosophy, 74 percent of GOP voters described Paxton as conservative with just 49 percent saying the same about Cornyn — and 24 percent describing him as liberal, and 25 percent calling him a “RINO,” or Republican In Name Only.
Voters also believe that Paxton is more likely to beat Texas state legislator James Talarico, the Democrat candidate in the general election.
Further illuminating Cornyn’s voter base is the staggering 24 percent of them who answered they would likely vote for Talarico if Paxton becomes the Republican nominee, with just 10 percent of Paxton supporters reporting the same if Cornyn prevails.
The TPOR survey reflects trends revealed in a March Quantus Insights poll that found that Paxton was leading Cornyn 48.8 percent to 41.3 percent, with 9.9 percent undecided.
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.