Texas poll: Ted Cruz holds slim lead over Walker

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas (Scott Olson, Getty Images)

The Texas presidential primary is about a year away, but right now Scott Walker is giving Ted Cruz a run at being the Lone Star favorite.

A new Texas Tribune/University of Texas poll

“Scott Walker is clearly breathing some of the oxygen on the right. The big takeaway here is that Ted Cruz is still a giant among Texas Republicans — but he is not invulnerable,” Jim Henson, co-director of the poll and head of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas, said in the Tribune story.

All polls are a snapshot in time and this is well before the 2016 Texas primary scheduled for March 1, when Florida and Virginia voters are also expected to weigh in. While home-state support isn’t a guarantee in presidential politics, the bragging rights help feed perceptions about momentum.

Former Texas governor Rick Perry, who left office last month, has 8% support at this stage from Lone Star voters.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Sunday on CBS’ Face the Nation

Abbott feels that way because the GOP field could boast several candidates with Texas ties besides Cruz and Perry.

Jeb Bush was born in Midland, graduated from the University of Texas, and his family is deeply associated with Texas. Bush garners 9% support in the Texas poll. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (5%) attended Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.

Rand Paul, son of a longtime Texas congressman, grew up in the southeastern part of the state and attended Baylor University in Waco. He comes in at 4% in the Texas poll.

Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, was born in Austin. Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, runs a Christian movie studio in the Dallas area. Neither made a dent in the Texas poll of 1,200 registered voters, which has an error margin of 4.19 percentage point for the GOP questions.