Rick Perry’s Support Skyrockets Among Church Goers

The State Column ^ | August 27, 2011 | staff

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Texas Governor Rick Perry is polling very well at the national-level. In fact, the longest-serving Texas Governor recently won a Gallup poll of Republican and Republican-leaning independents.

Perry pulled in a larger percentage of the vote than former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.). Perry won the Gallup poll with 29 percent of the vote. Romney took second place with 17 percent of the vote. Paul grabbed third place with 13 percent of the vote and Bachmann took fourth place with 10 percent of the vote.

This is the first Gallup poll to survey Republicans and Republican-leaning independents with Perry as an announced candidate. In July, a Gallup poll found that Perry had 18 percent of the vote as an unannounced candidate. Perry took second place in this poll, trailing Romney by 4 percent.

In the latest Gallup poll, Perry also finished strong among church goers, especially weekly church goers. Among those surveyed who never or seldom attend church, Perry took first place with 24 percent of the vote. However, when Gallup surveyed those who attend church on a monthly basis, Perry’s support jumped to 27 percent. Perry’s support skyrocketed when Gallup surveyed those who attend church on a weekly basis. In this instance, Perry grabbed 34 percent of the vote. Romney, who took second place under this condition, trailed Perry by 18 percentage points.

The Gallup poll also revealed that Perry has strong support among the elderly. Perry took in 40 percent of the vote when those surveyed were 65 years of age or older. In this instance, Romney pulled in 16 percent of the vote.

Despite his support among monthly and weekly church goers, Perry’s religious beliefs have put the GOP candidate in some hot water in the past. On August 6th, Perry held a prayer rally in Houston, Texas. During his prayer rally, Perry called on God to help “those who cannot see the light in the midst of all the darkness.” As many as 30,000 people attended Perry’s prayer rally.

However, not everyone was impressed by Perry’s prayer rally. Some were concerned that Perry’s prayer rally was a sign that the Texas Governor won’t be able to appeal to a broader audience of Republicans who want a candidate who can defeat President Obama.

Regardless of the popularity of Perry’s prayer rally, the Texas Governor remains extremely popular among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who are church goers.

[Nicojones]

Does taking on the trial lawyers and enacting tort reform when no one else would meet your test? This is a powerful lobby with deep pockets. Even country club republicans are in their pocket and have not ventured such reforms. Yet Perry did. This was not a “no risk” proposition. Read it yourself:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/the_guy_the_sharks_fear_etAoeHT2Z2t64YTa9ARjyM If you can judge a political candidate by the enemies he makes, Texas Gov. Rick Perry stands pretty tall. For example, the national tort-lawyer lobby is set to spend millions to try to stop the GOP presidential hopeful in his tracks. No wonder: Perry, in his 10 years as Texas governor, has managed to implement serious tort reform in a state that even a top litigator concedes was once “the golden goose” for high-end jury verdicts. Don’t think for a moment, though, that the tort bar is gearing up in the names of truth, justice and the American Way. As John Coale, a former tort lawyer and major Democratic contributor, told Politico: “Most of the guys I know don’t like [President Obama] . . . But when your livelihood, your money’s on the line, it concentrates the mind.” Which is why, adds Politico, “among litigators, there is no presidential candidate who inspires the same level of hatred — and fear — as Perry.” Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/the_guy_the_sharks_fear_etAoeHT2Z2t64YTa9ARjyM#ixzz1WLGrh6si