AUSTIN (KXAN) — If the general election came down later this year to a rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, a newly-released poll shows Texas voters supporting the former president at a slightly higher margin than how the vote shook out here four years ago.
Pollsters from Emerson College Polling and Nexstar Media asked a group of 1,315 registered voters across the state what they thought of a hypothetical head-to-head between Trump and Biden. The responses, which came between the period of Jan. 13-15, showed 49% supporting the Republican frontrunner and 41% backing the Democratic incumbent. Ten percent said they’re undecided at this time.
If that spread of eight percentage points ultimately holds in November, then Trump would get a boost from his 2020 vote haul in Texas. The former president captured 52% of the vote back then, besting Biden in the state by about six percentage points.
The new Emerson/Nexstar poll also quizzed Texans about how they’d vote if the mix included these three third-party candidates: Robert Kennedy Jr., Cornel West and Jill Stein. Trump still came out on top with 46% support. Biden earned 36% in this potential matchup, while Kennedy took in 5% and 1% support for West and Stein respectively.
The share of undecided voters, though, increased to 12% in this scenario, according to the poll results.
Pollsters estimated the margin of error to be about 2.6 percentage points.
Texas presidential primaries
Looking at the presidential nominating contests, Trump came out ahead of his main two challengers. The poll showed him leading with 69% support among Texas Republican voters, while former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley comes in a distant second (11% support) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in third (7% support). Nine percent of the respondents are undecided, the poll found.
In the Democratic primary, President Biden is way ahead with 72% of voters’ support, while two candidates captured only single digits — Marianne Williamson at 6% and Michigan Rep. Dean Phillips at 5%. The poll found the number of undecided voters on the Democratic side at 17%.
The March primary in Texas will happen on March 5, while the general election is set for Nov. 5.
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