Politics

Poll: Ted Cruz more popular for 2016 presidential run than Rick Perry among Texans

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Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz outpaces other potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates in Texas, according to a new poll.

The University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll found that in a match-up of other presidential primary possibilities, Cruz fared the best in Texas, even overtaking Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

In the poll, Cruz took 25 percent of the vote among self-identified GOP primary voters. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul came in second with 13 percent, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was third with 11 percent, then Perry with 10 percent.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Cristie received eight percent as did Paul Ryan, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal brought up the rear, both with two percent of the vote. Twenty-one percent did not have an opinion.

“What you’re seeing here with the Cruz number is that he has become the pre-eminent rising conservative in Texas,” poll co-director Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, told The Texas Tribune.

“What we’re witnessing in the numbers is Cruz running ahead and reaching back for the baton, and Rick Perry has the baton. The only question is whether Rick Perry is ready to hand it to him,” he added.

Among Democrats, The Tribune reported, the presidential primary field is a little less scattered, with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton taking 66 percent of the vote, Vice President Biden taking 11 percent, and “other candidates” coming in with 3 percent support. Still, 19 percent did not know.

The Internet poll of 1,200 voters was conducted from May 31 to June 9 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.83 percentage points.

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