Republican Sen. John Cornyn has a commanding 26 percent lead over his Democratic rival David Alameel in his Texas race, according to a new poll.
The
University of Texas/Texas Tribune survey shows Cornyn with 57 percent of the vote compared to Alameel with only 31 percent, while Libertarian Rebecca Paddock has 7 percent.
Cornyn, the 62-year-old Senate minority whip, was elected as senator in 2002, and he's running next month for his third term.
The same survey shows that Republican Greg Abbott is ahead of Democrat Wendy Davis by a 16-point margin, 54 to 38 percent, in the Lone Star State's gubernatorial race.
The University of Texas/Texas Tribune Internet survey of 866 registered voters was conducted from Oct. 10-19 and has a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.
The poll also revealed that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is the top pick of Texas Republicans when it comes to choosing a GOP nominee for the presidential race.
He received 27 percent of the vote in an Internet poll of 1,200 people, while Texas Gov. Rick Perry came second with 14 percent, according to
the Tribune.
Former pediatric surgeon Dr. Ben Carson was third with 10 percent, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, each with 7 percent.
Perry has picked up steam since June when a UT/TT poll showed Cruz with 33 percent of the vote, three times that of Perry, the Tribune reported.
"Rick Perry's political instincts about how to respond to law and order at the border are still pretty good," said Jim Henson, co-director of the poll and director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. "Everyone else is milling around in the middle of the pack."
The survey also revealed that President Barack Obama received favorable reviews from just 36 percent of Texans, compared to negative reviews from 57 percent. Most of the voters who disapproved, 48 percent, said they strongly disapproved.
"The president remains deeply unpopular, and I think we're seeing that expressed in races from governor to dogcatcher," Henson told the Tribune. "Anyone wondering why the president has been turning up in so many ads on TV can find their answer right here."