A quarter of those surveyed said they wanted Cruz to be the GOP nominee. Texas poll: Cruz favored for 2016

If Texas Republicans had their druthers, another Lone Star State leader would run for the White House in 2016 — but they prefer freshman Sen. Ted Cruz over longtime Gov. Rick Perry for the job.

According to a poll posted on Monday from the University of Texas and The Texas Tribune, 25 percent of those weighing in on the GOP primary want Cruz (R-Texas) to claim the 2016 nomination. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was the runner-up, with 13 percent, followed by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) with 11 percent.


Perry, who ran in the last presidential election cycle, raked in 10 percent. The governor could seek reelection in 2014, but only 25 percent of those surveyed overall would vote for him; 38 percent said they would vote against him.

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Those surveyed for the Democratic primary favored former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by 66 percent; 19 percent said they didn’t know and Vice President Joe Biden got 11 percent of that vote.

The Internet poll of 1,200 Texas voters was conducted May 31-June 9 and has an overall margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.83 percentage points.