New Texas poll hints at 'massive suburban defection' from Trump

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

published 22 July 2020

Several polls have shown that former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, is building a lead among suburban voters across the United States. While it may seem unlikely that will be the case in Texas, a new Quinnipiac University poll does provide some evidence that President Trump's suburban support is dwindling there.

The poll, released Wednesday, still shows Trump leading his likely challenger among white voters with a college degree, 49 percent to 42. But The Cook Political Report's Dave Wasserman noted that Trump's support among the same demographic was much higher in 2016 when he ran against Hillary Clinton, suggesting a "massive suburban defection" is on the horizon for the incumbent.

Overall, the poll is another indicator that Texas could be a close contest in November.

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Quinnipiac University surveyed 880 self-identified registered voters in Texas between July 16-20. The margin of error is 3.3 percentage points. Read the full results here.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.