A new poll suggests there may be little movement in the contested Texas Senate race between Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Colin Allred (Dallas). North Texas Hispanic leaders discuss the impact of the Latino vote in Texas this year, and Jason Allen explores how voters in the state discuss the issues that matter to them in “The State of the Heart in Texas.” listening to. These stories appear in the latest episode of Eye On Politics with Jack Fink. (Original air date: October 20, 2024)
new texas poll
Early voting in Texas begins tomorrow, Monday, October 21st, and extends until Friday, November 1st.
All eyes are on the race for the Texas Senate between two-term Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz and his Democratic challenger, Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas.
A new poll on the Senate race by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin shows Mr. Cruz leading Mr. Allred by 7 points (51% to 44%), a larger margin than other recent polls. I arrived.
Mr. Cruz has a 4.5 point lead, according to an average of the past six polls published in Real Clear Politics.
In the presidential election, the same poll shows former President Donald Trump leading Vice President Kamala Harris by 5 points, 51% to 46%.
Jack spoke to Dr. Joshua Blank, research director at the Texas Politics Project, about the new poll, which was conducted from Oct. 2-10. The number of likely voters is 1,091, with a margin of error of +/- 2.97%.
Check out the full interview with Jack and Joshua Blank.
Cruz and Allred debate
senator Ted Cruz and a member of parliament Colin Allred They faced off in their only debate last week in Dallas.
They clashed over issues of border security, abortion rights, and transgender athletes in high school and college sports, among other things. A few days before the debate, they We both talked to Jack..
Battlefield status updates
Now, let’s move on to the presidential election and weekly reports on seven battleground states. There has been some movement in the Real Clear Politics polling average since last week. Former President Donald Trump has a very small lead in each of these states.
Mr. Trump holds the largest lead over Vice President Kamala Harris in Arizona, which is still narrow but up 1.4 percentage points from last week.
In Nevada, Mr. Trump led by 0.5%, a change from last week when Ms. Harris led by 1%.
Trump holds a 0.9% lead in Georgia, about the same as last week.
There has also been a shift in Wisconsin, where Trump has a slight lead of just 0.1%.
In Michigan, the former president is leading by 9 points, up slightly from last week.
Pennsylvania also has a 0.5% lead, a slight increase from last week.
In North Carolina, Trump has a 1.0 percentage point lead over Vice President Harris.
The impact of the Latino vote in Texas
In an interview with Jack, Dr. Blank told CBS News Texas that candidates in the Lone Star State and nationally are vying for Latino voters.
“This is true at the presidential level and the same at the Senate level,” Blank said. “I think the broader reason why I think Hispanics are a more accessible group has to do with the nature of this election.”
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Jack sat down with three Latinx leaders to discuss issues that resonate with voters in their communities. One of the issues on the agenda was the economy.
Former Republican state Rep. Jason Villalba of Dallas, now the independent president of the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation, was one of three leaders who spoke with Jack.
“Immigration is not one of the biggest issues that Latinos actually talk about,” Villalba said. Based on polling from the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation, he says the economy is the biggest issue. “It’s a job. It’s an opportunity.”
In his conversation with Jack, Dr. Blank mentioned the importance of the economy to Latino voters.
Blank said Latino voters “tend to focus more on pocket money issues.” “While most voters now say the economy is their biggest concern and biggest issue, they are still very concerned about prices. For most voters, former President Trump’s first term Four of them said the economy was doing pretty well until the pandemic hit, and if you’re evaluating the economy, I think that’s the most important thing right now.” thinks it has done a better job on this issue and thinks it will gain some support. in his direction, and especially among Hispanic voters. ”
Tina Aviles, former Dallas County Republican Party vice chair and current district chair, talked about this in a conversation with Latino leaders.
“When we talk about this new kind of conservatism that is blooming among young people, we often look at it as a result of the economic policies of the Biden-Harris administration, or how their parents struggled to overcome it, or how they themselves have overcome it. “Let’s combine that with policy and how they’ve struggled with things like the economy,” Aviles said. “We’ll continue to see changes.”
Democratic state Rep. Ana Maria Ramos of Dallas called the Hispanic community “the backbone of our economy.” “Texas has the second largest Latino economy in the country,” Ramos said.
Other issues discussed by Villalba, Aviles and Ramos included immigration and education. Specifically, school choice and education savings accounts, which provide taxpayer money so some students can attend private schools.
Read our full conversation with Dallas’ Latinx leaders.
texas state of mind
CBS News Texas travels around the state to hear from voters about elections and the issues that matter most to them. This time, reporter Jason Allen brings us High Plains of the Texas Panhandle.
Check out Texas State of Mind: