Perry doing better with Texas Republicans

Although Rick Perry's general election poll standing in Texas is less than impressive Republican primary voters in the state have warmed up to him over the first six months of the year and he's now the clear favorite in the state.

31% of Republicans say Perry would be their first choice as nominee next year compared to 15% for Mitt Romney, 11% for Michele Bachmann, 9% for Ron Paul and Sarah Palin, 8% for Newt Gingrich, 6% for Herman Cain, and 2% for Tim Pawlenty.

Perry's strength with GOP voters in his home state is a new development. When PPP looked at Texas in January only 9% of Republicans said Perry was their top choice, putting him in 6th place overall and well behind Mike Huckabee's 24%. But Perry's shown a lot more interest in a bid since then, Huckabee's out of the picture, and Gingrich who was in second place at 17% in January has tanked. Perry has likely picked up a lot of the lost support of his fellow southern candidates in the race.

If Perry ends up not running there's basically a three way tie at the top in the state with Romney getting 17% to 16% for Bachmann, 14% for Palin, 11% for Gingrich, 10% for Paul, 8% for Cain, and 5% for Jon Huntsman. Those numbers show what's becoming a pretty common pattern- Bachmann leads Romney 22-15 with the 'very conservative' voters who constitute the largest segment of the Republican electorate. But Romney's strength in the middle- leading Bachmann 19-9 with moderates and 21-13 with 'somewhat conservative' voters gives him the overall advantage.

One thing very clear in the Texas numbers- Republicans there don't care for Ron Paul. Just 37% hold a favorable opinion of him to 45% with a negative one. It's pretty much a given that Paul's chances at the nomination are close to zero but the fact that his fellow GOP voters don't even like him takes Paul's troubles to a different level.......

I'm gonna disagree. The reason we are where we are is because Bush was a Compashionate Conservative who wouldn't go after Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac because he didn't want to rumble over it and probably believed in the concept.

We have been fighting two wars for 10 years.

The current President is NOT a career politician, he's an ideologue with Communism in his hear and wants to bankrupt us.

We had tax cuts while implementing programs like the Prescription Drug Benefit and while fighting these wars but we NEVER CUT SPENDING on entitlements.

Clinton had a balanced budget back in the late nineties because the House forced things like welfare reform and spending cuts down his throat and Billy was a good enough politician to go along and fight another day.

Perry is not a Compassionate Conservative, never was, that's Bush 43 and "kinder gentler nation" 41.

I think its is an election based on record and Perry will destroy Obama (remember he's actually been fighting him for 2 1/2 years now).

Plus I hear Dewhurst is gonna run for Kay Baileys seat and that means we will get fresh blood that Texas needs.

Yeah, but if our team is to be better (more than just different faces) from the other, we must have scruples.

Didn’t our parents teach us that winning at any cost is not right?

Sometimes, loosing is winning. (temporarily). I have lost sales deals that 6 months later I get a call back and the business because the customer was lied to. I think right now, the American public is waking up and realizes that the status quo of D vs R will just get us more in debt.

The definition of crazy is doing the same thing we have always done, and expecting a different result.

I advocate - throw the professional politicians OUT. The least experience in politics the better. We have applointed positions to advise the president in all matters of foreign policy, military, budget, etc. The president is in reality a CEO of the US. Nobody expects a CEO of for example, BOEING to be an aerospace engineer. CEOs don’t fly planes. President’s don’t negotiate treaties, or make budgets, they LEAD. Any politicians have been leading us like the Pied Piper to our doom.

Time we stopped drinking the SLICK POLITICIAN Kool-AID. No matter if it’s Cherry (Red) or Blue (Grape).

Now that I think about it. I like Rick Santelli for Pres.

Let’s DRAFT RICK SANTELLI!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEZB4taSEoA

http://wallstreetpit.com/33123-rick-santellis-keynesian-economics-rant

I can’t think of a better candidate.....Put some political type as the VP.

I’m sure Perry’s ego and the beltway hacks will convince him otherwise, but Perry is not viable in the national primaries. If he jumps in, he will win the entire south plus OK, KS, and maybe AZ, NM, and AK if Palin stays out. Problem is, he’s DOA everywhere else.

Perry would need to carry the entire Midwest to beat Romney, and he would not do that even if both T-Paw and Bachmann were to drop out of the race and endorse him. Both Palin and Bachmann could drop out and Romney would still beat Perry by 2-1 in delegates.

Either Bachmann or Palin could win in a 3-way race. Cain won’t last past South Carolina. Perry would not be viable even in a heads-up contest vs Romney. He is a regional candidate and his presence in the race directly benefits Romney, and only Romney.

Bachmann’s a stalking horse? You may want to reconsider that. Between Palin/Perry/Cain/Bachmann, Bachmann’s been the only one pulling significant support away from Mitt. She’s stealing from his fundraising candy jar well. Until and unless Palin declares, she’s the only one making Mitt break a sweat.

There is a lot of buzz about Perry because the RNC sees him as a way to put Romney on the top of the ticket, and the MSM would love to turn 2012 into another referendum on G.W. Bush.

If Perry is not a stalking horse for Mitt, please tell us why on earth NPR and Salon.com would be singing his praises at this particular time?

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