Sen. Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzVideo of Lindsey Graham arguing against nominating a Supreme Court justice in an election year goes viral Sunday shows preview: Justice Ginsburg dies, sparking partisan battle over vacancy before election Democrat on Graham video urging people to 'use my words against me': 'Done' MORE (R-Texas) leads Rep. Beto O'Rourke (Texas), his likely Democratic opponent in November, by single digits, according to a new poll conducted by a left-leaning firm.

End Citizens United, a campaign finance reform group, released a poll conducted by Public Policy Polling that finds Cruz leading O'Rourke by 8 points, 45 to 37 percent. Eighteen percent were undecided.

Wednesday’s poll is in contrast with an internal poll from Cruz’s campaign earlier this month that showed the GOP senator surging ahead of O'Rourke by 18 points. The survey also found that O'Rourke struggles with name recognition compared to Cruz.

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O'Rourke has a positive favorability rating in the poll, 20 percent to 19 percent, but 61 percent are unsure of how they view the congressman, who has served in Congress since 2013.

Democrats have an uphill battle in Texas’s Senate race, but they’ve been feeling more bullish on elections in redder states given recent upsets in GOP strongholds. Still, no Democrat has won a Senate election in Texas since 1988.

Cruz was first elected to the office easily in 2012, taking more than 56 percent of the vote.

The poll was conducted from Jan. 17 to 18 and surveyed 757 Texas voters via phone and internet. The margin of error was 3.6 percentage points.