Rick Perry Crushes GOP Competition in First National Poll

Rick Perry made a comment recently that it might have taken him a while to get into the GOP presidential race, but once he committed, he was there to win. And it did not take long for the Republican electorate to respond to his up-tempo, shoot-from-the-hip, Texas swagger, either. Just two days after Michele Bachmann solidified herself as a true competitor for the 2012 Republican nomination in Iowa, and just two and a half days after Perry told a South Carolina audience he was running for president, he topped a survey from Rasmussen Reports, beating his nearest rival by double digits.

In a poll of prospective Republican primary voters taken on Monday, August 15, the Texas governor polled 29 percent support. His candidacy was preferred by 11 points over previous frontrunner and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and 16 percent over Ames Straw Poll winner Rep. Michele Bachmann. Ron Paul, who took second place at the straw poll but who seems to be having a difficult time being taken seriously by the national news media, pulled in 9 percent of those surveyed.

Succinctly: In the first national poll since declaring his candidacy, Rick Perry not only came out on top among the field of contenders, he dominated his competition.

There were still 16 percent of the respondents who remain undecided. Still...

Perhaps all it took was commitment. Just before Memorial Day, Perry told a group of reporters in Austin that he would "think about" running for president. He then spent about a month denying rumors he was running or even thinking about running. But the GOP field of presidential contenders seemed to falter and reach a static stage where national polls reflected disinterest and as many as a third Republican voters undecided over who they would like to see as the 2012 GOP nominee. As talk continued to swirl, donors began to be courted, and even Perry began to show interest. Days before the Ames Straw Poll, his camp let it be known that he would announce his candidacy on the same day as the Iowa poll.

Two weeks prior to the straw poll, Perry, who was still playing the maybe-maybe not game, trailed Romney by 4 percent (22 to 18 percent) in a similar Rasmussen Reports survey. The difference in two weeks, a declaration, and a couple of speeches turned out to be 21 points and seeing his chief rival, Romney, relegated to the same number he held. The bonus, of course, was seeing Bachmann, whose core support group contains predominantly the same demographic of working class evangelicals, post 3 points less than she polled two weeks before her big win in Iowa.

Not only has Gov. Perry shown that he is now in it to win it, but it appears as if many Republican voters are in agreement that he should.