Could Biden Win Texas? Polls Show Likely Voters Dumping Trump

Texas is reliably red in most elections, but 2020 could be the year the Lone Star state goes blue. A new poll shows Biden three points ahead of Trump in Texas.

The new poll from the Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Tyler of 1,012 likely voters showed Biden has slightly more support than the 45th president. He leads with 48%-45% (within the poll’s margin of error) of the likely voters' support. The poll included 323 democrats, 265 independents and 391 republicans.

“Biden wouldn’t be my first choice to get to cast a vote for, to be honest,” said Hayley Dyer, 32, an independent voter told the Dallas Morning News. “But I would rather vote for anyone than to vote for Donald Trump.”

Though the poll has a +/- 3.08% margin of error, political scientist Mark Owens, who directed the survey, explained that Trump did much better in the same 2016 polls. “President Trump’s support in mid-sized cities (20,000-250,000) has eroded from what were big wins in 2016 as he received 70% of the vote in those 22 counties,” he said.

The Dallas Morning News/UT Tyler poll was taken between Oct. 13 and Oct. 20, before the last presidential debate.

The New York Times reports that there has been a surge of early voting in Texas, more so than any other state. Over 6.9 million Texans have voted in the 2020 election. That’s more than 75% of the 2016 turnout, and there’s still more than a week until Election Day.

A democrat hasn’t won Texas in the presidential election since 1976 when Jimmy Carter won.