Dissatisfied Republicans who have flitted from Donald Trump to Herman Cain to Rep. Michele Bachmann this year may have found their man in Rick Perry: The Texas governor, in the race for less than a month, holds double-digit leads in two major polls released Wednesday.
In the latest Gallup Poll, Mr. Perry is the choice of 29 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning independents, 12 points ahead of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, at 17 percent, followed by Rep. Ron Paul of Texas at 13 percent and Mrs. Bachmann at 10.
Mr. Perry has an even bigger 13-point advantage in the Public Policy Polling survey released Wednesday. In that poll, Mr. Perry is the choice of 33 percent of GOP voters to Mr. Romney’s 20 percent and Mrs. Bachmann’s 16 percent.
“There have been a lot of flavors of the month in the Republican presidential race, and it’s possible that Rick Perry is just another of those,” said Dean Debnam, president of the Democratic-leaning PPP. “But his support right now is stronger than Michele Bachmann or Herman Cain or Donald Trump or Mike Huckabee’s ever was, which suggests he should have more staying power.”
Add undeclared candidates Sarah Palin and Rudolph Giuliani to the field and Mr. Perry still comes out on top, according to Gallup.
• David Eldridge can be reached at deldridge@washingtontimes.com.
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