With less than two weeks before the election, Rep. Beto O'Rourke's (D-Texas) long-shot bid to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is still a long shot, according to two new polls of the expensive Senate contest. In a University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll released Friday, Cruz leads O'Rouke by 6 percentage points, 51 percent to 45 percent, among likely voters. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll on Wednesday, Cruz leads by 5 points, 49 percent to 44 percent. In the September Ipsos poll, O'Rourke had a 2-point lead among likely voters. The RealClearPolitics average has Cruz up by 7 points.
O'Rourke fared better than the other Democrats in the Texas statewide races, in the UT/Texas Tribune poll, all of whom trailed by 12 to 19 points. That's largely because unlike in the other races, independent voters prefer O'Rouke over Cruz, 51 percent to 39 percent, the poll found. Cruz consolidated support among Republicans, The Texas Tribune says, and "more importantly, his race to define his leading opponent to voters before O'Rourke could do it himself has paid dividends." While Cruz is viewed favorably by a 51 percent to 44 percent margin, O'Rourke has a 49 percent to 44 percent favorability deficit, thanks to a souring of opinion about him among Republican voters.
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