Gallup Poll on the Race Between Perry and Romney

A recent poll taken by Gallup of the approval of the Republican Presidential candidates shows a few different things in the race for the GOP Presidential nomination. First, this poll shows what everybody knew: Mitt Romney and Rick Perry are far ahead of the rest of the pack. 31% of those polled prefer Perry, 24% prefer Romney, and the next best is Ron Paul, who garnered 13%, although nearly everybody knows that Ron Paul has no realistic shot at being elected. This poll also shows that Republicans seem to be slightly favoring Rick Perry over Mitt Romney. Ever since the former Governor from Texas joined the race in August, he has been gaining ground on Romney, the previous front-runner for the nomination, and clearly has the momentum at the moment. When the poll was narrowed down to just Perry and Romney, Perry held an even wider margin, with 49% choosing Perry and 39% choosing Romney.

Despite all of this, another poll taken by Gallup indicates that perhaps a swing back to Romney will occur for the basic fact that many think he's a much more electable candidate. One thing making him more electable at the moment is the far right nature of Rick Perry, which would potentially drive away moderate voters. In a poll of nationally registered voters, Romney vs. Obama saw a 49-47% line in favor of Romney. The same poll with Perry saw a 50-45% line in favor of Obama. Although it's still very early, it will be intriguing to see which way Republicans lean, and at the moment it seems like a very possible scenario for many will be the following: do I want the candidate who may better represent my values (Perry), or do I want for the candidate who has the best opportunity to remove Barack Obama from office? Time will tell.

Source: http://www.gallup.com/poll/149552/Perry-Looks-Better-Against-Romney-Against-Obama.aspx