Cornyn has $7 million on hand, while Stockman has just $32,000. | AP Photos Poll: Cornyn way up on Stockman

Texas Sen. John Cornyn starts out his 2014 primary fight a whopping 44 points ahead of his most prominent conservative challenger, Rep. Steve Stockman, according to private GOP polling obtained by POLITICO.

In a survey conducted by the Republican firm Wilson Perkins Allen Opinion Research, Cornyn held a wide advantage over Stockman, leading 50 percent to 6 percent. Other candidates took 5 percent of the vote, and 39 percent of those surveyed were undecided.


Pollster Chris Perkins, who works for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and state Attorney General Greg Abbott, the presumptive GOP gubernatorial nominee, said the poll was not paid for by any client.

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“With less than three months until the Republican primary for United States Senate, John Cornyn is in a very strong position,” Perkins wrote in a polling memo.

The numbers illustrate the challenge ahead for Stockman, a flamboyantly pugilistic back-bencher who took the Republican Party by surprise this week when he announced his campaign to unseat “liberal John Cornyn.”

But despite having a presence in the conservative media, Stockman is a relatively little-known figure statewide and had only $32,000 in his campaign account at the end of September. Cornyn, meanwhile, has some $7 million on hand.

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In order to have a shot at beating the Republican incumbent, Stockman will have to hope that the senator’s support drops below 50 percent and forces the race into a runoff, giving Stockman an opportunity to consolidate anti-Cornyn votes in his camp.

The WPA poll is the first survey of the Texas race since Stockman announced his campaign Monday evening. The live-caller poll tested 762 likely Texas Republican primary voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

Stockman spokesman Donny Ferguson said in an email that the poll is “bad news for liberal John Cornyn,” arguing that it proves “Texans aren’t happy with Cornyn’s record.”

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“Cornyn has been in office for over a decade, has spent tens of millions of dollars promoting himself and half of the party doesn’t want him back. Cornyn has nowhere to go but down,” Ferguson said.” We have three months to make our case, and then another three months in a runoff.”

Cornyn campaign spokesman Drew Brandewie countered that Cornyn has a solidly conservative record that he will be touting in the campaign.

“One thing Texans respect is a man who says what he means and does what he says. Senator Cornyn is proud of his strong conservative record and will continue to work hard to earn the support of Texans,” Brandewie said.