Democrat James Talarico seized the lead in a bid for a U.S. Senate seat in a poll that the University of Texas released on Tuesday with the state representative from Austin leading the GOP's Ken Paxton by 3 points and Governor Greg Abbott up on Gina Hinojosa by an even larger margin.
The Texas Politics Project of 1,200 registered voters August 5 to 13 found Talarico with support from 42 percent compared to 39 percent for the third-term state attorney general who Republican voters nominated for the post. Hinojosa - a Texas House member from the Capitol City as well - trailed the third-term Republican governor by 5 points in the new UT poll with support from 45 percent.
Paxton led Talarico by 1 point in the last University of Texas poll in the first half of June with 43 percent support. While Talarico's support remained the same at 42 percent in the new survey, Paxton was down 3 points at 39 percent in the UT poll this month on the race at the top of the Texas ballot in November. Abbott's support dropped two points in August compared to June while Hinojosa was favored by 40 percent of the voters in both UT polls on the governor's race in Texas.
Talarico had been ahead of Paxton by almost 3 points on average in nine polls that have been taken on the Texas Senate competition in the past two months. Abbott has led Hinojosa by 3 points on average in nine surveys on the gubernatorial contest here in July and August.
While losing ground to Democrats in statewide races, the UT poll found that major of the Texas voters in the sampe disapproved of Presidenht Donald Trump while Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick were under water by 3 points and 8 points respectively in terms of their approval marks in the survey.
Talarico had higher scores than Paxton in every category on questions on whether the voters viewed the Senate candidates as honest and trustworthy, competent, strong leader, knowledgable and caring about other people.
While 91 percent of the Democrats in the sample backed Talarico in the Texas Senate fight, only 79 percent of the Republicans in the August survey said they supported Paxton in the race. None of the Democrats who were polled supported Paxton for the Senate. But 5 percent of the GOP voters who were tested gave Talarico the nod. Eighty-six percent of the Republican voters supported Abbott for re-election while Hinojosa had thumbs ups from 89 percent of the Democrats in the survey. Abbott and Hinojosa both had 2 percent of the opposing party's voters in their corner in the UT poll.
The UT survey showed Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick ahead of Austin State Rep. Vikki Goodwin by 7 points with 42 percent support. GOP State Senator Mayes Middleton had a 5 point lead over Democratic colleague Nathan Johnson in the race for attorney general in the UT survey.
The pollsters found Comptroller Don Huffines with a 6-point advantage over Democratic State Senator Sarah Eckhardt in a bid for the position he landed with an appointment from the governor this summer after securing the GOP nomination in March. Eckhardt is also based in Austin - one of four state lawmakers on the Democrats' statewide ticket in Texas this fall. Middleton and Huffines both received nods from 40 percent of the Texas voters who the UT pollsters tested this month for the general election 71 days from today.
Republicans led Democrats 48 percent to 44 percent in a generic congressional trial ballot test while the GOP had a six-point edge on a generic test for the Texas Legislature.
The UT poll found serious opposition to data centers in Texas - with 58 percent opposed to the AI development facilities including 41 percent who were strongly opposed. Only 30 percent said they supported data centers here including 10 percent who were strongly in favor of their establishment in Texas.
Inflation topped the list of priority issues for the voters in the UT survey - with 19 percent tagging it as their chief concern. Corruption/leadership ranked second on the issues list for the upcoming midterm vote with the economy and immigration tied for third at 10 percent apiece. Border security was a distant 5th on the priorities list in a tie with health care and moral decline at 4 percent each.
more to come ...
University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll | 8/5-8/13 RV
US Senate Texas 2026
??James Talarico 42% ??Ken Paxton 39% ??Ted Brown 3%
