Beto O'Rourke is catching up to Ted Cruz


Democratic Rep. Beto O'Rourke's effort to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas has been under close scrutiny, and a new poll suggests he's gaining ground six days out from the midterms.
A poll from the University of Texas at Tyler released Wednesday shows Cruz ahead of O'Rourke by 3.6 percentage points among likely voters, quite close to the 3.26-point margin of error, The Texas Tribune reports. Cruz has support from 47 percent of likely voters, while O'Rouke has 43.4 percent support. Another 5.7 percent of voters were undecided. Among registered voters, Cruz holds a larger lead of 4.3 percentage points.
This comes days after a Quinnipiac survey showed Cruz with a five-point lead on his Democratic opponent, down from a nine-point lead earlier in the month. The incumbent senator is still the heavy favorite to win next Tuesday, but the race has become far tighter than anyone would have predicted months ago. Not every recent poll has been quite as favorable for O'Rourke, though, as a CBS 11 / Dixie Strategies Texas poll released Tuesday showed Cruz with a much more decisive 10-point lead. FiveThirtyEight projects Cruz has an 80 percent chance of victory.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The University of Texas at Tyler's poll reached 1,033 adults online from Oct. 15 to Oct. 28. The margin of error is 3.26 percentage points among likely voters, and 3.03 percentage points among registered voters.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
Thai fish pie with crispy turmeric potatoes recipe
The Week Recommends Tasty twist on the Lancashire hot pot is given a golden glow
-
Palestine Action: protesters or terrorists?
Talking Point Damaging RAF equipment at Brize Norton blurs line between activism and sabotage, but proscription is a drastic step
-
Trump's strikes on Iran: a 'spectacular success'?
In Depth Military humiliations 'expose the brittleness' of Tehran's ageing regime, but risk reinforcing its commitment to its nuclear program
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump
-
Trump embraces NATO after budget vow, charm offensive
Speed Read The president reversed course on his longstanding skepticism of the trans-Atlantic military alliance
-
Trump judge pick told DOJ to defy courts, lawyer says
Speed Read Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official nominated by Trump for a lifetime seat, stands accused of encouraging government lawyers to mislead the courts and defy judicial orders
-
Mamdani upsets Cuomo in NYC mayoral primary
Speed Read Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani beat out Andrew Cuomo in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary
-
Supreme Court clears third-country deportations
Speed Read The court allowed Trump to temporarily resume deporting migrants to countries they aren't from