Monmouth Poll Shows Ted Cruz Surging in Texas

A brand new poll released today from Monmouth University has Ted Cruz up big in Texas. Yesterday an Emerson Poll conducted February 21-23 showed Donald Trump closing in on Cruz in Texas. Today's Monmouth University Poll tells a far different story.

Cruz has opened a 15-point lead on Donald Trump according to Monmouth which has Cruz pulling in 38% of likely Texas Republican primary voters. Donald Trump and Marco Rubio are in a fight for second place in Texas according to this latest poll with Trump at 23% and Rubio at 21%.

The Monmouth University Poll was conducted February 22-24 and sampled 456 likely Republican primary voters. The poll also found that 18% of respondents had already voted and 44% of those voters had voted for Ted Cruz. 30% of respondents said they had a strong preference but were open to considering other candidates.

If the race were only between Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and Marco Rubio, Cruz would still dominate in Texas by receiving 43% of the vote. Marco Rubio would come in second at 26% followed by Donald Trump at 23%.