President Donald Trump boasted Wednesday about his success in endorsing winning candidates following the victory of Texas’ controversial attorney general Ken Paxton, but according to a new poll, the president may end up regretting his endorsement in that race.
Conducted by the Democratic Party-affiliated polling firm Public Policy Polling, which was previously ranked by The Wall Street Journal as among the most accurate polling firms, Paxton – now the Republican nominee for Senate – had a favorability rating among Texas voters of 30%, with 56% of respondents indicating they had an unfavorable opinion of the Trump-backed candidate.
Furthermore, when asked who they would vote for in November, 45% of respondents named the Democratic nominee in the race, Texas state Rep. James Talarico, with 38% of the respondents saying Paxton.
Conducted between May 22 and 23, the poll surveyed 643 Texas voters, 56% of whom indicated they had voted for Trump in the 2024 election, and 42% for former Vice President Kamala Harris, indicating a right-leaning swing among respondents. Even so, those surveyed issued a blunt message to the White House regarding the president’s endorsement in the race.
“As you may know, President Donald Trump has endorsed Ken Paxton for US Senate,” reads one of the survey’s questions. “Does hearing this make you much more likely, somewhat more likely, somewhat less likely, or much less likely to vote for Ken Paxton, or does it not make a difference?”
Despite the majority of poll respondents indicating they had voted for Trump less than two years prior, 31% of those surveyed indicated that Trump’s endorsement made them “much less likely” to vote for Paxton, whereas 26% said it made them “much more likely.”
However, when including less enthusiastic responses in which respondents indicated that Trump’s endorsement made them “somewhat” more or less likely to vote for Paxton, the Trump-backed candidate won out by three percentage points.
Regarding Trump’s own approval among those surveyed, the results were more concrete, with 52% indicating they disapproved of Trump’s performance to the 40% who said they approved.