ADVERTISEMENT The poll comes on the heels of Trump's dominant performance in the Nevada caucuses Tuesday, his third straight win in the GOP race. Texas is one of the dozen states voting on Super Tuesday next week, and the billionaire businessman has made clear that he intends to beat Cruz in his home state.

"I think it's very likely that Mr. Trump can win here in Texas," Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson told CNN on Wednesday morning.

Among the three, Rubio is viewed most positively, with 64 percent viewing him favorably and 29 percent viewing him unfavorably. Cruz is viewed favorably by 56 percent, with a higher unfavorable rating of 41 percent. Meanwhile, Trump is viewed unfavorably by 50 percent and viewed favorably by only 45 percent.

Cruz held a bigger lead of 9 points over Trump — 38 percent to 29 percent — in a separate University of Texas-Texas Tribune poll released Tuesday and conducted before the Emerson poll.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) endorsed Cruz on Wednesday.

The Emerson survey of 446 likely primary voters was conducted Feb. 21–23 via landlines with a margin of error of 4.6 percentage points.