Hillary, Trump neck and neck in Texas: Poll

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is narrowing in on her Republican rival Donald Trump's lead in Texas which has dropped from double digits to under 5 per cent in the last two weeks, according to anew poll.

According toWashington Post survey 'Monkey poll' Trump is ahead of Clinton by only 2 points in the lone star state.

In aUniversity of Houston poll, the Republican presidential nominee is leading by 3 points, whereas the survey 'USA/Texas Tenga poll' showed him ahead by 4 points.

Trump, 70, is still winning Texas, but his advantage has dropped precipitously from double digits to under 5 per cent in the last two weeks, the survey said.
 

Released yesterday by the University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs, the poll also found that 16 per cent of respondents were undecided or refused to answer.

Four per cent chose Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson and 1 per cent selected Green Party nominee Jill Stein.

Republican presidential candidates have won Texas by no less than 11 percentage points since 2000, according to a memo accompanying the poll results.

Democrats last won Texas in a presidential race in 1976.

The poll also showed that, despite Trump's narrow lead, 53 per cent of Texas voters thought Clinton, 68, would be elected as the next US president compared to 23 per cent of voters who believed it would be Trump.

The survey interviewed a total of 1,000 people between October 7 and 15 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

"Texas is in play, not likely to produce a democratic candidate, but something we have not seen for at least 20 years," said Robert Stein, co-director of the survey andProfessor of Political Science at Rice University.

"This is very much a race that Hillary Clinton has a chance to win. I noticed for instance, five per cent of self identified Republicans are now voting for Hillary Clinton, another two per cent are not voting for Donald Trump and have chosen another candidate," said Stein.

Surprising or not - Texas folks really don't like Trump or Clinton, Stein added.

The survey shows 48 per cent of Texans with a highly unfavorable view of Trump, while 47 per cent said the same of Clinton.

"You've got two candidates here, not only do voters not like but within the parties, there's not but a bare majority for any candidate getting a very favorable rating," Stein said.