FACT CHECK: Did Rachel Maddow Reveal In July That Joe Biden’s Approval Rating Is Higher Than Ted Cruz In Texas?
A post shared on Instagram claims MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow recently revealed President Joe Biden has a higher approval rating in Texas than Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
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Verdict: False
While Maddow did highlight in May a poll that showed Biden having a higher approval rating than Cruz in Texas, a more recent poll from June 2021 shows Biden’s and Cruz’s respective approval ratings were the same. Maddow has not highlighted any other polls comparing their approval ratings on her show or her social media recently.
Fact Check:
The July 25 Instagram image includes a photo of Biden seemingly laughing and Cruz looking down while wearing a mask. “Major Breaking,” text in the image reads. “Rachel Maddow reveals Biden’s approval rating in Texas is now higher than Ted Cruz’s.”
The image, by using “Major breaking,” implies that Maddow’s “reveal” is recent. There is, however, no indication that Maddow has recently shared a poll showing Biden’s approval rating is higher than Cruz’s.
While Maddow did highlight a University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll on Twitter which found Biden was slightly more popular than Cruz in Texas, she sent the tweet over two months ago on May 4. Biden’s approval was 44 percent, while Cruz’s was 43 percent, according to the poll.
Meanwhile, President Biden’s approval rating in Texas is **higher** than:
Republican Gov Greg Abbott
Republican Lt Gov Dan Patrick
Republican Senator Ted Cruz
Republican Senator John Cornynhttps://t.co/nArkyrY3SK
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) May 4, 2021
“Meanwhile, President Biden’s approval rating in Texas is **higher** than: Republican Gov Greg Abbott Republican Lt Gov Dan Patrick Republican Senator Ted Cruz Republican Senator John Cornyn,” Maddow tweeted in May. (RELATED: Did Rachel Maddow Tweet That Hillary Clinton Died In 2016?)
Check Your Fact searched through Maddow’s Twitter feed, but did not find any more recent mention of polls showing Biden having a higher approval rating than Cruz. A search of the Rachel Maddow Show’s July transcripts likewise did not yield any results for Maddow talking about a recent Texas poll.
A more recent University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll released June 29 shows that Cruz’s and Biden’s respective approval ratings were the same at 43 percent. Check Your Fact looked through the Texas Tribune and University of Texas websites and did not find any more recent polls about Cruz’s or Biden’s approval ratings.
