“If you look at that Fox News poll, he’s ahead by seven points in the state of Texas,” Fox anchor Ainsley Earhardt lamented on Friday, adding: “How is that possible?” The “he” is Democrat James Talarico, who leads Republican Ken Paxton in Fox’s striking new poll of Texas. This shocker prompted Earhardt’s guest to warn: “Texans have to wake up!”
In truth, both Fox figures are slightly overstating matters. The poll does show Talarico up by seven points among registered voters, 53–46. But it shows his lead is much tighter among likely voters, 51–49. The latter might matter more.
Still, Talarico’s lead among both groups is remarkable in a state where no Democrat has won statewide in decades. What’s more, the poll’s internals help shed light on Trump’s role in bringing about Talarico’s lead. Here the news for Trump is very bad, and it captures something essential about the winding-down Trump era.
Texas has been purple for a long while at worst if not actually blue. There has been decades of making it harder for the left leaning voices to gain traction in positions of substance
Not sure if this is true anymore. DFW is fairly red now. East Tx has always been red. Latinos along the border have been voting red in spite of themselves (such as Uvalde and Laredo).
I have no idea how West Texas votes these days.
Houston and Austin areas are consistently blue.