Posted on 07/24/2011 10:08:03 AM PDT by Signalman
If Gov. Rick Perry opts to run for president, a passel of polls released this week indicates that he would enter the race for the GOP nomination as a top-tier candidate.
Four national polls had Perry running second to fourth among Republicans surveyed in July, surpassing many established — and long-announced — candidates, including Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum.
"He's top three if he runs," said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist. "I think it's (Mitt) Romney and (Michele) Bachmann and Perry. The others, so far, have not been able to generate any real steam. That could change, but I doubt it."
Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and unsuccessful candidate for the GOP nomination in 2008, is the national front-runner but has been unable to pull away from the pack. The four polls showed mixed results for Romney, with several indicating that he's in a tight race and others showing him solidly ahead.
Bachmann, a U.S. House member from Minnesota and a tea party movement favorite, has stormed into second place in most polls and is considered the front-runner in Iowa, which opens the primary season in 6½ months. Romney is not actively campaigning in Iowa.
Everybody else in the Republican field failed to generate double-digit support in the four polls. The most surprising bottom dweller is Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor whose campaign kicked off with great fanfare but whose support is hovering in the 2 percent range, the polls showed.
Until a solid front-runner emerges, the low polling numbers will encourage additional candidates, such as Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani, to consider entering the fray.
But poll support implies only that a candidate has enough backing to be viable. Fund-raising ability, campaign organization and support from activists — all factors that Perry has been weighing in recent weeks — are vitally important to a presidential campaign.
Among the poll results:
• Perry was only three points behind Romney, 17 to 14 percent, in support from 323 registered GOP voters in a Fox News poll. Bachmann was third with 10 percent. President Barack Obama topped all Republicans in head-to-head matchups, with Romney behind Obama by six points (47 to 41 percent) and Perry and Pawlenty down 10 points (both 47 to 37 percent), the poll showed.
• A CNN poll of 455 Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP showed the tightest race, with Perry only two points behind Romney, 16 to 14 percent, with potential candidates Giuliani and Palin close behind at 13 percent.
• Romney had a solid lead with support from 30 percent of GOP primary voters in an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll. Bachmann followed with 16 percent, and Perry was third with support from 11 percent of those polled.
• Perry came in fourth with support from 8 percent of registered Republican voters surveyed by the Washington Post and ABC News. Romney had 28 percent, followed by Palin with 16 percent and Bachmann with 13 percent.
• Although it didn't ask voters which candidate they preferred, a Gallup poll found that Perry and Giuliani generated the most positive enthusiasm among GOP voters nationwide. However, only 55 percent of those surveyed recognized the Texas governor's name, a relatively low number in a crowded field.
IMHO, time for a non-establishment candidate for a change.
Who might that be?
Where oh where are all the PDSers saying Perry should sh!t or get off the pot, or he’s waited too long to throw his hat into the ring? Hello, anybody out there?
http://www.amazon.com/Fed-Up-Fight-America-Washington/dp/0316132950
This is pretty anti-establishment.
That’d be Governor Sarah Louise Palin? Next question.
The party is full of a lot of dumb ignorant people who don't do their homework, like the ones who made Rudy Giuliani the front runner in 2008 for a while. Those people need to take a really hard look at Rick Perry. They need to ask why he was liberal pro-abortion Al Gore's campaign manager in Texas. They need to ask why he backed liberal pro-abortion Rudy Giuliani in 2008. They need to ask why he speaks before the racist reconquistas of La Raza.
This gentleman at first blush seems a cut above the rest of the Republican candidates.
Thank the Lord the DemocRATS don’t have any “top tier” candidates. It appears that they’re going to go with their bottom tier, freshman Senator from Chicago again.
Perry/....another pro Mexican...one world....globalist...former Al Gore Democrat, RINO, in the mold of the Bushes....
a quantum leap over zer0bama but a mediocre primary choice....
Bachmann has "the Package" the others have only packing peanuts..
She would be an excellent President.. hopefully with a female VeeP.. (its time for that)..
Its time for a House cleaning..
~~~~~ Foreword by Newt Gingrich ~~~~~
“And you know what? That's New York,that's their business and that's FINE with me.”
And before you Perrysites insist the statement was about his dedication to “states rights” alone lets change the issue from homosexual marriage to something else:
“And you know what? Sticking a scalpel in the living skull of a partially delivered baby and then sucking it's brains out,that's California,that's their business and that's FINE with me.”
Still all about “states rights?” isn't an immoral abomination still an immoral abomination no matter the excuse?
I can see why Perry endorsed PRO-ABORTION PRO-HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE Rudy Guiliani for prez in 2008.He is no social conservative ergo he is no true conservative.
The best outcome we will ever achieve on abortion is that it will be a state-by-state issue. If Roe v Wade is ever overturned. it will be a state issue. Here in Texas, we may be an anti-abortion state. NY and CA will always be be pro-abort states. There will NEVER be a time in which abortion is illegal in all 50 (or 57) states. Roe v Wade makes it impossible to outlaw abortion. Its overturn would allow states to outlaw it; but some states never will.
Polls show me nothing.
If the right questions were asked of the right people, it would show a majority of them were for crucifying Jesus Christ if he appeared today.
If it's not a states' rights issue in your mind, then it must be a federal issue. Now that we have established that as your view, what, pray tell, has NY done to violate the US Constitution?
I'm still looking for the part where it defines marriage. Please help me locate that passage. Oh, it's not in there? Are you sure? Well, DAMN...that must be one of those things that is left up to the states.
Perry does not support gay marriage, but said NY has the right to establish its own rules. I guess Perry should have said that NY doesn't have the right to establish its own rules on marriage? That would be mighty Banana Republic of him.
I am amazed at the outright lies and distortions a small group of people are spreading on here about Perry. What have we heard.. He FORCED young girls to take a shot. (outright lie) He was a democrat. (a quarter of a century ago when Republicans couldn't get elected dogcatcher in Texas) He was going to grab land away from landowners, and execute a warranty deed to the Mexicans. (never happened, and never was going to happen) He supports gay marriage. (outright lie)He's from Texas, therefore he's Bush. (That's some logic for you right there) He's GWB III. (who was GWB II?) He backed Rudy (over such superstar leaders as McCain, Romney, and Huckabee) He's only governor b/c of Bush. (and elected 3 times since) He's only governor b/c he runs against weak people. (If one calls KBH weak, then they don't know jack sh!t about Texas) He has no power. The Lt. Gov. has the power (which Perry was). He has hair. (oh the humanity)
It does not bother me 1 bit if people don't like him. But, if you're going to dislike him over issues, people need to make sure they know what the hell they're talking about before they (in general) start spreading outright lies. I like several of the candidates running or flirting with running. I think several could beat Obama. Does it behoove me or the party to trash talk them and spread lies about them? No. And I won't. And this small group of people on here who constantly lie about Perry need to realize that. Focus on the facts. The democrats will give us plenty of lies. We don't need each other doing it.
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