Texas, usually safe Republican bastion, is in play this election according to poll results released Sunday by CBS News/YouGov.
Hillary Clinton trails Donald Trump by 3 percentage points in the Lone Star State where 38 electoral votes are at stake, well within the poll’s 4.4 percentage point margin of error.
Trump’s chances seem increasingly in jeopardy, as other typically safe red states in presidential elections have shown signs going Clinton’s way come Nov. 8, including Arizona. In Utah, independent conservative candidate Evan McMullin pulled ahead of both Trump and Clinton in a recent poll.
The poll found that Trump is underperforming among white men in Texas, leading Clinton by 35 points, which is down from the 50 percent Obama lost by in 2008.
Moreover, Hispanics in Texas, of which there are over 10 million (39 percent of the state’s population), stand in Trump’s way. With his controversial pledge to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and plan to deport 11 million illegal immigrants, Trump has struggled to gain traction within the group.
While Trump maintains a 4.6 percent advantage over Clinton in the RealClearPolitics average of polls, the political poll-tracking website moved the previously deep-red state Sunday into “toss-up” territory.
Trump lost the Texas primary back in March, coming in second place to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, 43.8 percent to 26.7 percent.
