Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton remains the most popular Republican running for Senate in the Lone Star State, despite a mid-summer divorce announcement, according to a poll released Tuesday.
The University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll found that 55 percent of Republican voters hold a favorable view of Paxton, while 42 percent said they view incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn favorably. About 22 percent of respondents said they have a favorable view of Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas), who has flirted with entering the Senate race, while 70 percent of respondents said they had no opinion on him.
The poll didn’t test a head-to-head battle for the GOP Senate primary. Fewer than 20 percent of voters surveyed said that they had heard a lot about the upcoming Senate race, so the pollsters “took a conservative approach” to assess the early standings through favorability ratings.
Polls through August showed Paxton leading Cornyn, but Cornyn gaining steam after Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton (R) filed for divorce from the attorney general “on biblical grounds” in July.
“I believe marriage is a sacred covenant and I have earnestly pursued reconciliation,” Angela Paxton said in a statement on the decision. “But in light of recent discoveries, I do not believe that it honors God or is loving to myself, my children, or Ken to remain in the marriage.”
None of the Republicans has amassed bipartisan backing. Among all voters surveyed, 22 percent had a favorable view of Cornyn, to 45 percent unfavorable. Paxton’s overall favorability was 28 percent to 45 percent unfavorable. Among Democrats, each of the Republicans polled in the single digits.
The UT/TPP poll also found that Paxton leads Cornyn in statewide job approval among GOP voters. Nearly 60 percent of Republicans surveyed said they approve of the job Paxton is doing as attorney general, with 14 percent disapproving. About 47 percent said they approve of the job Cornyn is doing, with 22 percent disapproving.
On the Democratic side, two former senatorial candidates who each lost to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) during his two most recent campaign cycles came out on top. About 73 percent of Democrats said they view former Rep. Beto O’Rourke favorably, and 63 percent said they have favorable views of former Rep. Colin Allred.
State Rep. James Talarico (D), who launched his bid for the Democratic nomination in the Senate race this week, remained largely unknown by most voters surveyed. About 71 percent overall and 60 percent of Democrats said they have no opinion of him.
The poll surveyed 1,200 registered Texas voters Aug. 22-Sept 1. It has a 2.83 percentage point margin of error.
