Trump has apparently managed to do in unimaginable: turned Texas into a swing state. According to a survey released on Tuesday, Trump’s lead in Texas is now within the margin of error, meaning that Clinton could take the lead at any moment.
Trump’s polling averages in the Lone Star state have been steadily dropping in the last month, and what was previously considered to be a GOP stronghold may make a surprising shift in the final three weeks of the election.
According to a poll conducted by Survey USA, Trump leads in Texas 47 to 43. That is well within the survey’s four percent margin of error. This means that though Trump may appear to be leading, the survey must allow the possibility that they were off by as many as four points.
Trump’s strongest state lead is in Western Texas, but Clinton continues to gain in the more liberal portions of Texas including Austin and San Antonio.
Texas has only gone blue once in the last 10 presidential elections, back in 1976 when little-known former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter beat out incumbent Republican Gerald Ford.
Since then, the state has continued to turn a deeper shade of red. In 2000, nearly 60 percent of the state voted for hometown boy George W. Bush. Then again in 2004, the state supported the incumbent with 61 percent of the vote.
Even in the last two elections where the Republican candidate lost to President Barack Obama, the Republican candidates John McCain and Mitt Romney enjoyed comfortable leads in Texas.
Could Trump truly have angered his base enough to lose one of the most Republican states in the union? If so, we can’t imagine how he can continue to shout “election fraud!” any longer.
