February 2018 UT/TT poll
Cruz Overall 40% favorable, 41% unfavorable
Democrats 11% favorable, 73% unfavorable
Republicans 72% favorable, 12% unfavorable
Beto overall 29% favorable 14% unfavorable
Democrats 53% favorable 4% Unfavorable, 43% unknown or no opinion
Republicans 8% favorable 21% unfavorable, 60% unknown or no opinion
October 2017 UT/TT Poll
Cruz 38% favorable, 43% unfavorable
Republicans 65% favorable, 18% unfavorable
Democrats 11% favorable, 73% unfavorable
Beto Overall 16% favorable, 13% unfavorable
June 2017 2017 UT/TT Poll
Cruz overall 38% favorable, 44% unfavorable
Republicans 71% favorable, 13% unfavorable
Democrats 7% favorable, 75% unfavorable
Beto Overall 18% favorable, 15% unfavorable
Comments
a. a lot of people don't like Cruz which gives Beto a good base.
b. Beto still has a long way to go with name regonition but the jump from October to February was pretty good
c. Beto's unfavorability rating has not changed in 8 months, which is also good for him
d. More republicans find Cruz unfavorable than democrats find him favorable in 2 of 3 polls
e. for those with an opinion Beto's favorable rating with republicans is much greater than Cruz's favorable rating with democrats.
f. Beto's unfavorable rating with democrats is less than Cruz's unfavorable rating with republicans
g. Cruz may be trending up or it could just be statistical noise.
h. even with all those things going for him, without a big media blitz it is unlikely Beto's name recognition improves enough by election time.