Another poll out from the University of Texas at Austin's Texas Politics Project and Texas Tribune shows state support for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is growing.
The Texas Politics Project polled Cruz’s favorability rating just before and just after his quasi-filibuster aimed at defunding the Affordable Care Act that ultimately shut down the federal government.
"He came out with 38 percent favorable, 37 percent unfavorable. So there’s a little bit higher negatives than his readings in June where he was 40 percent favorable and 31 percent unfavorable, but overall there’s been no collapse," said UT professor Jim Henson, who headed up the polling.
Henson said another way of looking at Cruz’s successes is a look at the GOP presidential primary:
"Cruz came out on top in that line-up, he was favored by 32 percent of Republican primary voters -- his next closest competitor was Rick Perry at 10 and Jeb Bush following closely at 9," Henson said. "But the real headline there is Cruz’s position improved by 7 points between June and October."
Henson said Perry’s favorability remain unchanged between June and October, despite his launch of his economic group Americans for Economic Freedom.
"Perry’s numbers are unchanged since June, so Rick Perry had 10 percent in June, he had 10 percent in October," Henson said. "The sense, I think, is that Rick Perry right now is a bit stagnant in Texas. That is his position has not declined appreciably in the presidential field, but he has not attracting much in way of new interest."
Reflecting on a 2016 Republican presidential primary, Henson said right now the action is all in Cruz’s corner.
