Former Texas solicitor general Ted Cruz has taken a four-point lead over Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst in the Republican Senate primary runoff race, according to a PPP poll released Thursday. PPP found that 49 percent of likely Texas GOP runoff voters support Cruz, while 44 percent support Dewhurst.

The independent poll comes just over two weeks before the July 31 runoff, which followed the primary in May in which Dewhurst came in first but failed to garner at least 50 percent of the vote. An internal poll by the Dewhurst campaign released this week showed Dewhurst leading, 50 percent to 42 percent, and another from the Cruz campaign showed Cruz ahead, 49 percent to 40 percent.