A new University of Houston poll indicates Trump is so destructive and polarizing to the Republican party that even the great state of Texas is becoming a battleground state this election.  Yes, deep red Texas.

The survey, which was only calculated using responses from people who were certain or very likely to vote, found that 41% of Texans supported Donald Trump while 38% backed Hillary Clinton.  Johnson garnered 4% of the vote and Stein came in at 1 percent.

Of those who self-identify as Republican, 78% supported Trump, compared to Clinton receiving 80% of the vote from self-identified Democrats. Five percent of Republicans declared they would vote for Clinton, while only 2% of Democrats said they were voting for Trump.  And 8% of Republicans still weren’t sure who they would support, compared to 11% of Democrats who remained undecided.

Trump’s greatest weakness in Texas? Independents.  Independents were much more likely to vote for Clinton than Trump, with 30% of Independents backing Clinton and only 14% supporting Trump.  Almost a third of Independents (29 percent) in Texas are still undecided about who they will vote for in the presidential race.

Continuing the ongoing saga of the two worst candidates ever, most voters in Texas still don’t like either candidate.  Forty eight percent of those surveyed deemed Trump as “very unfavorable” and 47% agree that Clinton is very unfavorable.

Now, here is the catch.  The poll’s margin of error is +/- 3 percent, which means Trump and Clinton are statistically tied in Texas.  Every Republican presidential candidate since 2000 has carried the state of Texas by 11 percentage points or more. But this year we are looking at a statistical dead heat.  Because that’s what happens when you choose a Democrat as the Republican nominee.