Texas Lyceum Releases New 2016 Presidential Contest Poll Numbers
Trump Leads in Texas, Including a 21-16 Lead over Cruz & Crowd of Other Republican Presidential Contenders; Clinton Leads Sanders by 12 and Biden by 21
Gov. Abbott Gets 56% Approval Rating; President Obama, 52%
AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- An independent poll conducted by the Texas Lyceum, a non-partisan, nonprofit statewide leadership group, shows billionaire real estate mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump leading U.S. Senator Ted Cruz by five points (21 percent-16 percent) in Texas in the 2016 Republican Presidential nominating contest. The survey also shows former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with a substantial lead in the Democratic primary, but trailing in a November 2016 general election among Texas voters.
"We are proud to publicly share the results of our ninth Texas Lyceum Poll with Texas' policymakers, scholars and citizens," said 2015 Lyceum President Jane Cummins. "We included a diverse set of questions ranging from U.S. presidential contenders to a variety of issues facing our state. We will continue to use the poll as a foundation for discussion at our annual public conferences and quarterly meetings, and readily share these valuable data to inform public policy discussions in Texas."
Trump's support in the Lyceum Poll remains consistent with national polls across most age groups: including those 65 and older, 45 to 64, and 30 to 44, only trailing retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson by one point (22 percent to 21 percent) among potential Republican Primary voters under the age of 29.
Due to the large field of candidates, the Lyceum poll asked, "who would be your second choice" for president? This question revealed that 37 percent of Trump's voters would support Ted Cruz, followed by 24 percent for Carson.
On the Democratic side, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leads the Democratic field with 36 percent of the vote followed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (24 percent), Vice President Joe Biden (15 percent), and former Virginia Senator Jim Webb (2 percent).
Looking ahead to the November 2016 general election in Texas, Clinton trails Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump by eight, seven, and two points, respectively. However, she is ahead of Florida Senator Marco Rubio by seven points.
"Mrs. Clinton actually polls better in Texas right now than one might have expected," said
Prof. Daron Shaw, who oversees the Lyceum Poll along with Lyceum Research Director, Joshua Blank. "But this is primarily due to her greater name recognition and the divisiveness of the GOP contest at this early stage."
Texas and National Economy
Despite a declining state unemployment rate of 4.1 percent, down from 4.8 percent this time last year, Texans see the economy as stagnant compared to a year ago. Looking to the national economy, Texans' attitudes are mixed. A plurality believes we are worse off than last year (34 percent), but an almost equal proportion (31 percent) says that the national economy has improved.
Job Approval
In the poll, which was conducted September 8 - 21, 56 percent of likely voters approve of the job Governor Abbott is doing. Meanwhile, the poll shows a slight bump (eight percent) in approval ratings for President Obama compared to last year's Lyceum poll. A majority of respondents, 52 percent, indicated that President Obama is either doing a "very good" or "somewhat good" job as president, compared with 44 percent who indicated that the president is doing either a "somewhat poor" or "very poor" job.
"The Texas Lyceum poll is an important snapshot of opinions on the key issues and people driving public discussion in Texas," said Jenifer Sarver, Vice President of Media & Poll for the Texas Lyceum. "Texas is poised to play an important role in the 2016 presidential election and we hope this poll will be an informative tool for media and voters as we move closer to the primary."
This is the second release of data by the Texas Lyceum this week. On September 30, polling on Texans' attitudes on immigration, healthcare, race-based discrimination, gay marriage and the legalization of marijuana were publicly released. The summary and press release are available online at: http://texaslyceum.org/2015poll
About The Texas Lyceum
The Texas Lyceum, a non-profit, non-partisan group, is the premier statewide leadership organization focused on identifying the next generation of top Texas leaders. The Lyceum consists of 96 men and women from throughout the state who begin their six-year term while under the age of 46, and have demonstrated leadership in their community and profession, together with a deep commitment to Texas. For more information, please visit www.texaslyceum.org. Texas Lyceum is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/texaslyceum and on Twitter @TexasLyceum http://twitter.com/texaslyceum
Contact:
Margaret Justus
281-250-8253
Jenifer Sarver
[email protected]
SOURCE Texas Lyceum
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