Democrats are counting on a “blue wave” to sweep across America.
Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are trying to ride a wave of left-wing anger back into power in November.
But Schumer saw everything he planned go up in smoke when this poll came out.
Democrats need to win two Senate seats to reclaim the upper chamber and install Schumer as Majority Leader.
They have opportunities in Nevada to defeat anti-Trump Republican Dean Heller and to win an open seat in Arizona if the Trump-hating Martha McSally wins the GOP nomination.
But they also must defend ten senate seats in states that Trump won in 2016.
That means Democrats must pick off one or two red state seats in addition to Arizona and Nevada in order to win a majority in the Senate.
Journalists and activists had begun to pay close attention to the Senate race in Texas.
Incumbent Senator Ted Cruz is set to face off against Democrat Beto O’Rourke.
O’Rourke shocked pundits when he raised $6.7 million in the first quarter of 2018 and outraised Cruz in the first 45 days of 2018 – the period from when the New Year started to when Texas staged their primary.
In addition, a Quinnipiac poll released in April found Cruz clinging to a 47-44 advantage over his Democrat challenger.
Democrats believed they had stumbled upon their red state unicorn – the fluke candidate no one saw coming who could provide the winning margin in a contest over which party would control the Senate.
But those dreams came crashing back to reality.
A brand new Quinnipiac poll painted a completely different picture.
Cruz held a commanding 50 to 39 percent lead over O’Rourke.
In this poll, Cruz led O’Rourke with traditionally Democrat constituencies such as women and Hispanics.
The Texas Republican bested O’Rourke with women 44 to 42 percent.
And Cruz was the choice of 46 percent of Hispanics compared to 44 percent for O’Rourke.
This sent liberal reporters into a conniption fit whining about how women and Hispanics were basing their vote on policy preferences as opposed to gender and racial identity or hatred of Donald Trump.
Donald Trump is president and Texas Democrats are struggling to beat his ally Ted Cruz among women and Hispanic voters. Ponder that for a minute. https://t.co/obfVQZcXfA
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) May 30, 2018
With any chance of victory quickly fading in Texas, Democrats will be desperate to find a well-funded candidate in another red state who can sneak out a victory.
The latest polling out of Texas shows that Democrats cannot count on hatred of Trump and a depressed GOP base to be enough for victory.
Cruz’s improved political standing coincides with Trump’s approval numbers stabilizing.
This fact-pattern is likely to repeat itself in other red states and could be enough to deny Schumer the position of Majority Leader.
