Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry’s disastrous debate performance last week has hurt his campaign, but may not be fatal, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
After watching a video of the Texas governor stumbling while trying to name three government agencies he would eliminate if elected, 48 percent of registered Republicans thought less favorably of him, the poll found.
But while 31 percent of Republicans said Perry should drop out of the race, many more — 52 percent — said he should stay in.
Perry’s embarrassing memory lapse further roiled a Republican race already hit by the travails of Herman Cain. Among those polled, 37 percent of Republicans said Cain, who denies the allegations, should leave the race.
The setbacks to Perry and Cain are reshaping the Republican field of potential challengers to President Barack Obama in the 2012 election. Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, once considered an also-ran, has benefited as conservative Republicans cast about for an alternative to the more moderate Mitt Romney.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll had Romney in the lead among Republicans, with 28 percent saying they would vote for him. Perry was fourth with the support of 12 percent, while Cain was second at 20 percent and Gingrich third at 16 percent.
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey on Sunday also showed support for Perry fell sharply after the debate. The poll, in which Republican voters were re-interviewed, showed 28 percent were very or somewhat positive about Perry, while 33 percent were less enthusiastic. A week before, 38 percent of those interviewed supported him, while 24 percent were somewhat or very negative about him.
The Texas governor once sat atop national polls and led the money race during the most recent reporting quarter, but a series of stumbles in the debates has eaten into his backing. His fund-raising has slowed significantly, sources close to his campaign say.
Perry’s campaign went into damage control overdrive Thursday, putting the governor front and center on news shows and allowing him to mock himself in an appearance on comedian David Letterman’s late-night talk show.
The online survey was taken among 461 registered Republican voters Thursday and Friday.
Since it was an online poll, typical margins of error do not apply. Despite that, various recognized methods were used to select as representative a sample as possible and weigh the results. If it were a traditional random survey, it would have a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.
{Thomson-Reuters/Matzav..com Newscenter}
Texan4Ever, What a rube. Do you ever read the news to see what is atauclly happening in Texas, or is your TV stuck on Faux News? Perry has been a disaster. Texas leads the nation in all the bad categories, like largest class size, most citizens uninsured, most working in poverty level jobs, and th list goes on and on. You mention that he has kspt us from having an income tax. Well yeah that is correct. But what you appear to ignorant to realize is that he shifted the birdn to Property Taxes, the Sales Tax and uhh, gamblers who play the lottery.But then you say he kept the gamblers out of the state. That was real smart. Oklahoma Louisisana and New Mexico make millions off the Texas who want to gamble which results in millions of tax dollars to their respective states.Your next argument is well, dumbfounding. First you say he forced Obama to give hem more border guards. We’re you asleep during the Bush years and during the 08 campaign. Bush stalled and stalled and stalled and sent some unarmed National Guardsmen and minimal funding for a fence. Obama campaigned on strengthening the border and doubled the guards. The fence has proved to be a boondoggle and virtually unrealistic. Oh and the other night Perry was on faux news in a pre-presidential announcement appeareance, whining about how evil the feds are and how much help he needs at the border and obama wont listen to poor me waa, waa, waa, all after he snubbed the President and wouldn’t meet with him when the Pres was here.Lastly, and this is what makes me think you are a rube, is that Perry would make a great president and would let the states run amok. Isn’t one of the oaths of duty of the president to preerve the union. How in the hell is he to going to do this and let the states do what they want? Wisen up my friend. Apparently you can read so why don’t you do more of it and see what is really going on in Texas.