TEXAS — Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is beating his Democratic challenger Rep. Colin Allred by double digits. That’s according to a new poll from the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.

Cruz is up 46% to Allred’s 33% among registered voters surveyed. Another 22% preferred someone else or didn’t have a preference.

“If you look at the party breakdown, a large share of Democrats are still saying they’re undecided,” Jim Henson, who directs the Texas Politics Project and did the poll, said in an interview on Capital Tonight Wednesday.  

In the race for president, Republican Donald Trump holds a comfortable lead over President Joe Biden in Texas. In a hypothetical head-to-head contest, Trump was up by 8 points.

“What we’re seeing right now is Joe Biden is not running well right now in Texas among independents,” Henson said. “And again, we’re seeing a little less Democratic engagement in the presidential race as well. 

The poll was conducted April 12-22 among 1200 registered voters. The results have a margin of error of +/- 2.83%. 

The poll also tracked voters’ views on Texas’ abortion laws, border security policies and the U.S. response to the Israel-Hamas war conflict. 

Click the video link above to watch our full conversation with Henson.