Two new polls out today show new candidate Rick Perry leading the GOP field by double digits.
The Gallup poll results: Perry (29 percent), Mitt Romney (17 percent), Ron Paul (13 percent), Michele Bachmann (10 percent), Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich (4 percent), Rick Santorum (3 percent), and Jon Huntsman (1 percent). Those results are good news for Perry (up 11 points since Gallup’s July poll) and Paul (up 3 points), and not such great news for Romney (down 6 points) and Bachmann (down 3 points).
If Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani enter the race, Perry retains his double-digit lead and Romney hangs on to second place. Results with Palin and Giuliani are: Perry (25 percent), Romney (14 percent), Palin and Paul (11 percent), Giuliani (9 percent), Bachmann (7 percent), Cain (4 percent), Gingrich and Santorum (3 percent), and Huntsman (1 percent).
Results from Democratic firm Public Policy poll released today: Perry (33 percent), Romney (20 percent), Bachmann (16 percent), Gingrich (8 percent), Cain and Paul (6 percent), Santorum (4 percent), and Huntsman (3 percent). If Palin is an option, results are: Perry (27 percent), Romney (17 percent), Palin (13 percent), Bachmann (10 percent), Cain and Gingrich (7 percent), Paul (6 percent), Santorum (3 percent), and Huntsman (2 percent).
PPP also did a few match-ups of the top tier candidates. Perry won all of them that he was in — all that varied was by how much. PPP showed Bachmann at 19 percent, Romney at 29 percent, and Perry at 41 percent in a three-way match. In a two-person scenario, Perry beats Romney 52 percent to 36 percent. Similarly, Perry beats Bachmann 56 percent to 26 percent. That’s bad news for Bachmann, since it shows that Perry isn’t gaining in support simply because he’s viewed as a more formidable competitor to Romney; it’s also because right now, voters prefer him to her.