Rick Perry Leads Polls in Texas Republican Gubernatorial Primary Battle

Dallas, Tx – The University of Texas / Texas Tribune February Polls show Rick Perry leading Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.  In recent polling Perry enjoys a 45% to 21% lead over Hutchison. 

The University of Texas / Texas Tribune poll, conducted from February 1-7, shows Governor Rick Perry holding a 24-point lead over Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Republican gubernatorial primary contest, with Debra Medina posing a surprisingly strong challenge to Hutchison for second place. Perry garnered 45% of the vote, Hutchison 21%, Debra Medina 19%, with 16% undecided. The sample of 366 Republican primary voters has a margin of error of +/- 5.12 percentage points.

In the Democratic primary, Houston Mayor Bill White has a 48%-14% advantage over businessman Farouk Shami. Thirty-eight percent of the Democratic sampled chose “don’t know.” The sample of 265 Democratic primary voters has a margin of error of +/- 6.02 percentage points.
In the Democratic primary for Attorney General, Linda Chavez-Thompson leads Ronnie Earle 18%-16% (an edge well within the margin of error), with Marc Katz claiming 3% of the vote. In the Agriculture Commissioner race, Kinky Friedman holds a slight edge over Hank Gilbert 32%-27%. The large numbers of “don’t know” responses in the Democratic races (38% for Governor; 58% for Lt. Governor; 41% for Ag Commissioner, 41%) underscore the comparative lack of paid advertising and earned media attention to these races.

Read More: texaspolitics.laits.utexas.edu/11_1_0.html