A new Public Policy Polling poll released Monday by USA Today again shows Texas is very much in play this November.
Former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Trump by one percentage point, 48 percent to 47 percent.
Trump carried the Lone Star State by a margin of 9 percentage points in 2016. Most recent polls show a close race between the two presidential candidates. Monday’s poll was conducted last week just as the Democratic National Convention wrapped up.
Republicans kicked off their own platformless convention on Monday. In Trump’s first speech of the convention, he took the time to attack Democrats and their chances in Texas.
“You’re not going to win the state of Texas if you have no oil, no guns, and no religion,” Trump said.
Polling conducted throughout much of the year has shown the two presidential candidates evenly matched in Texas, but the timing of this particular poll is giving the Trump team pause: at this point in the 2018 US Senate race, most polls had Ted Cruz ahead by 6 points. He would ultimately win by just over 2 points. If that trend holds for Trump in 2020, Biden would be on track for a four point victory.
Last week, a co-finance chairman of Trump’s reelection campaign called the idea of battleground Texas “malarkey” and said the Trump campaign shouldn’t put resources into the state.
That advice is falling on deaf ears; Trump has visited the Lone Star State three times this year and as of the last three weeks, his campaign has pumped more than $1.4 million advertising dollars into Texas — about six times more than the Biden campaign.
The up-for-grabs polling coming out of Texas has also pushed the Biden campaign to make moves in the state. Earlier this month, the campaign staffed up and began airing TV ads in Texas, the first time a Democratic candidate has done so in a quarter-century, according to Texas Democrats.
If Biden wins Texas in November, he would be the first Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter to do so.
Photo: Loren Elliott/Getty Images
Fernando covers Texas politics and government at the Texas Signal. Before joining the Signal, Fernando spent two years at the Houston Chronicle and previously interned at Houston’s NPR station News 88.7. He is a graduate of the University of Houston, Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, and enjoys reading, highlighting things, and arguing on social media. You can follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93 or email at fernando@texassignalarchive.com
