Rick Perry's Presidential campaign is doing about as bad in Texas now as it is everywhere else in the country. When PPP last polled the state in September he was at 49%, leading Mitt Romney by 39 points. Now Perry's support has declined by 31 points, leaving him in 3rd place at 18%. Mitt Romney at 24% and Newt Gingrich at 23% lead the way with Rick Santorum at 15%, Ron Paul at 12%, and Buddy Roemer at 0% rounding out the field behind Perry.
What might be most shocking on this poll is that Romney edges Perry 46-45 if Republican voters had to pick just between the two of them. When we asked that identical question four months ago Perry led Romney 72-18. There's been a 55 point shift in Romney's direction.
It's surprising to me that Romney beats Perry in his home state face-to-face. It's within the margin of error, though. The polling on the US Senate race in Texas is getting interesting, too. While there's still a sizable gap, Tea Party conservative Ted Cruz is closing in on his establishment adversary David Dewhurst:
Things are getting a little bit more interesting in the Republican primary for Senate. David Dewhurst still holds a large lead over Ted Cruz, but it's down from 29 points in September to now just 18. Dewhurst is at 36% to 18% for Cruz, 7% for Tom Leppert, 4% for Craig James, 2% for Joe Agris, 1% each for Glenn Addison and Lela Pittenger, and 0% for Charles Holcomb.
At this point, Cruz has to consolidate votes from the other conservatives while building his name recognition and whittling away at Dewhurst's establishment base. The primary is coming up fast. Texas votes on
March 6th April 4th (see first comment below; more
here), Super Tuesday, for both president and US Senate as well as other primary contests.
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