Trump pushes Cruz out of lead in Texas poll

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump talks to the media after arriving by helicopter at a nearby ballpark before Trump attended the Iowa State Fair Saturday, Aug. 15, 2015, in Des Moines. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) less Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump talks to the media after arriving by helicopter at a nearby ballpark before Trump attended the Iowa State Fair Saturday, Aug. 15, 2015, in Des Moines. (AP ... more Photo: Charlie Riedel, Associated Press Photo: Charlie Riedel, Associated Press Image 1 of / 21 Caption Close Trump pushes Cruz out of lead in Texas poll 1 / 21 Back to Gallery

The Trump bandwagon has come to Texas.

Two months after billionaire mogul Donald Trump polled at a lowly 2 percent in a University of Texas survey of Texas Republican voters, he's shot up to the top – same as where he is in the national polls.

A new poll released Thursday puts Trump in the lead at 24 percent support among registered Republicans in Texas, pushing native son Ted Cruz into the second spot at 16 percent.

The latest poll was commissioned by a group called the Texas Bipartisan Justice Committee, which hired the Florida-based Gravis Marketing firm to conduct the research.

The poll is bad news for Cruz, who enjoyed a commanding lead with 20 percent in the June Texas Politics Project poll. It's also more bad news for former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who was second at 12 percent in the previous poll.

Perry dropped to 4 percent in the latest Texas poll, at the back of the pack with Scott Walker and Mike Huckabee.

In third place after Cruz in the new poll is Ben Carson, at 12 percent. Jeb Bush follows at 9 percent, a troubling fourth place finish for an establishment favorite and scion of the Bush family in Texas.

Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio tied at 5 percent, and Rand Paul, another native son of Texas, didn't rate a mention at all.