TEXAS — Following the conviction of former President Donald Trump and just ahead of the first presidential debate, the latest University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll shows Trump maintains a significant lead over President Joe Biden in Texas.

In fact, according to the poll, more than half of Texas Republicans voters said his conviction makes them more likely to vote for him in November.

The poll has Trump ahead of Biden by 7 points, 46% to 39%.

Contextualizing Texas GOP support for the former president, three quarters of Republicans said he did not receive a fair trial. Eighty-seven percent of Democrats said his trial was fair. Forty-four percent of independents said the trial was fair.

The latest poll also shows Republicans view Trump slightly more favorably than they did a year ago. Democrats and independents view him as slightly less favorable than at this time last year.

Turning to Texas’ other big race, the poll shows Republican Sen. Ted Cruz with an 11-point lead over Democratic Rep. Colin Allred. Six percent chose “someone else” and 14% were undecided.

Pollsters noted Allred has yet to make an impression on Texans. Forty-one percent of respondents said they either have no opinion of him or a neutral view.

Texans remain divided over Cruz. Forty-four percent of voters view him favorably and 44% unfavorably. Among Republicans, 77% have a positive view of Cruz.

For the issues Texas voters think the candidates should be discussing, immigration and border security was again identified as the most pressing. That was followed by the economy, inflation and abortion/women’s issues.

The poll was conducted May 31 to June 9 among 1,200 registered Texas voters. It has a margin of error of +/- 2.83%.