A third poll within the past seven days shows Texas Senate Democratic state Rep. James Talarico narrowly ahead of Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
A new poll from Texas Southern University's
Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center shows Talarico (47%) leading Paxton (45%) by 2 percentage points — within the poll's margin of error.
The poll was conducted from July 27-30, polling 1,200 likely Texas voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.83 percentage points — meaning the true result for either candidate could be up to 2.83 points higher or lower than the poll shows.
This comes after a Fox News poll, released July 30, showed Talarico leading Paxton by 3 percentage points, 51% to 48%, and a Texas Public Opinion Research poll on July 28 shows Talarico also leading Paxton by 5 percentage points, 45% to 40%.
Here's a deeper look into the first Texas Senate poll in August.
Talarico leads Paxton in third Texas Senate poll
The poll shows that in the Texas U.S. Senate election, Talarico (47%) leads Paxton (45%) by 2 percentage points, with 2% supporting Libertarian Party candidate Ted Brown and 5% undecided.
The poll showed sharp demographic divides. Talarico led among Black voters 79% to 12% and among Latino voters 57% to 38%. Paxton led among white voters 53% to 39%.
Talarico is also seeing strong support among women by 17 percentage points (55% to 38%), while Paxton is finding more support among men by 14 percentage points (53% to 39%).
By party, the poll showed that virtually all Democrats (97%) intend to vote for Talarico, with 1% intending to vote for Paxton and 2% undecided. By comparison, only 85% of Republicans intend to vote for Paxton today, with 5% intending to vote for Talarico, 4% for Brown and 6% still undecided.
Mateo Rosiles is the Texas Connect reporter for USA TODAY and its regional papers in Texas. Got a news tip for him? Email him at mrosiles@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Third Texas Senate poll in a week shows Talarico ahead of Ken Paxton
