Ted Cruz widens lead over Beto O'Rourke in new Quinnipiac poll

Some Republicans have been growing anxious that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) might be in danger of losing his re-election campaign to rising Democratic star Rep. Beto O'Rourke. But a new poll of the Texas Senate race may ease their concerns.

Quinnipiac University found in a poll released Tuesday that among likely voters in the race, Cruz leads O'Rourke 54 percent to 45 percent. Previous polls had shown O'Rourke closing in on the incumbent senator, with Cruz having a perilously small 1-point advantage in an Emerson poll conducted in August. But as ABC News reporter Adam Kelsey points out, Emerson polled all registered voters while Tuesday's Quinnipiac survey is among likely voters specifically. Quinnipiac additionally found that 93 percent of respondents had already made up their minds about the election.

Per Real Clear Politics, Cruz's 9-point lead in the Quinnipiac poll is his best showing since June, when he scored a 10-point advantage over his Democratic opponent in a survey from CBS News/YouGov.

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The Quinnipiac poll was conducted by speaking to 807 likely voters over the phone from Sept. 11 - 17. It has a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points. Read the full results here.