Sen. Ted Cruz has a significant lead over Donald Trump in his home state of Texas heading into the primary there next week, according to a poll by the University of Texas and Texas Tribune.
Among likely Republican voters in Texas, Cruz gets 37 percent to Trump’s 29 percent. Sen. Marco Rubio trailed Trump at 15 percent, and Jeb Bush, who exited the race Saturday, edged out Gov. John Kasich and Ben Carson, both of whom are still running.
Texas has the most delegates of the states voting on March 1 for what’s known as “Super Tuesday.” The spate of contests has been called the “SEC Primary” because the calendar is stacked with southern states on that day in a departure from past years.
A significant victory in Texas would blunt Trump’s momentum on Super Tuesday, when the real estate mogul is expected to open his lead over chief rivals Cruz and Rubio.
For Trump supporters, the most important factor in selecting a candidate was improving the U.S. economy, according to the poll. For Cruz supporters, the most important factor was “giving the Republican Party a good chance to win in November.”
The UT/Texas Tribune poll included 1,200 voters and had a margin of error of 2.83 percent.
