New polls are saying that for the first time in four decades, Texas could potentially swing Democrat in the 2016 Presidential election. This is huge, and it hasn't happened since Texas helped vote in Jimmy Carter in 1976.

There are two possible explanations for this. First, there is the so-called "sleeping giant" of Latino voters, highly concentrated in Texas, who have been galvanized to some extent by Republican party candidate Donald Trump's xenophobic remarks about Latin Americans and immigrants. Second, some studies have pointed to a fluctuation in how Republican women are voting after the scandalous video of Trump bragging about committing sexual assault was leaked earlier this month. If this is the case, it could certainly account for Texas swinging this election.

Trump has a measly 5% average lead over Clinton at the moment, but every survey has a margin of error, and that information can't be comforting to Trump's campaign managers at the moment. No matter where the pieces fall on November 8th, it is going to be a dead heat. The swing is so close, that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton is trying to sway last minute voters by diverting more campaign money Texas's way, and will even be adding some stops to the campaign trail in the Lone Star State this year.

So what happens if Texas does swing? Well, Texas has a whopping total of 38 electoral votes for the Presidential election, and Texas, like most states operates with popular vote as a guide for how to cast the electoral votes, meaning that if Clinton can manage to squeak by and earn the majority of the popular vote, then all 38 electoral college votes for the state will be hers.

Texas has one of the largest populations in the country, which is why they have so many electoral votes. In fact, they are second in electoral vote count only to California, who have 55 votes. In an absolute majority count, that's almost 14% of the electoral votes that Hillary would need on her side alone.

Similarly, Trump is losing ground in other traditional red states such as Arizona and Georgia, and it truly is a problem with Trump's rhetoric, not with the Republic party itself, as evidenced by a massive amount of people now planning to "vote straight down the ballot, but not at the top." In other words, Republicans still believe in fellow Republicans, but they are completely abandoning the Republican presidential candidate only.

So yes, there is a slight chance. If, and only if, Clinton gets on her A-game and puts in a monumental effort to sway Texans, it could happen. If not, it comes down to the uninterested voters in the middle ground, and with out reason to do otherwise, they'll simply vote the way they always have.