By Jonathan Tilove Austin American-Statesman
AUSTIN, Texas — Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has drawn even in Texas with President Donald Trump, and Democrat MJ Hegar is closing in on U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in the Quinnipiac University poll of likely Texas voters released Wednesday afternoon.
“Biden and Trump find themselves in a Texas standoff, setting the stage for a bare-knuckle battle for 38 electoral votes,” said Quinnipiac University Polling analyst Tim Malloy.
In the Senate race, Malloy said, “While Cornyn maintains a lead, there are still two weeks to go, and you can’t count Hegar out.”
In its last Texas poll, released Sept. 24, Trump led Biden by 5 points, 50% to 45%, and Cornyn led Hegar by 8 points, 50% to 42%.
The Texas results and trend line were great news for the Biden campaign and Texas Democrats, and, comes even as Quinnipiac released results of its new survey in Pennsylvania, which showed a tightening race in what both sides consider a must-win state.
Likely voters in Pennsylvania support Biden 51% to 43% over Trump, with 5% saying they are undecided. In an Oct. 7 poll following the first presidential debate and the president’s positive coronavirus diagnosis, Biden held a 54% to 41% lead over Trump.
In a Sept. 3 poll, Biden led Trump 52% to 44%.
The survey of 1,145 likely voters in Texas was conducted Oct. 16-19 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
