Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) hasn't officially started a campaign for the GOP presidential nomination, but he's already making an impact in national polls of primary voters. Now he's leading in the latest survey of likely Republican primary voters in the critical swing state of Florida. Perry took the pole position in Florida with 16% of the vote in the latest American Research Group (ARG) poll, followed closely by the candidate who held the lead the last time ARG polled the state: former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney. Romney held a commanding lead in the same poll in May, garnering 26% of the vote, almost twice as much as the second place finisher, former Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee. Now with the infusion of Perry in the field, only 15% of voters stuck with Romney. Also registering 15% is Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), after getting only 5% back in May.
Perry's flirtation with a run for the nomination has been bolstered by a number of national public polls over the last week that show him with significant support in a short amount of time, and sans an official campaign. Last week a CNN poll of GOP voters showed Perry in second place, only two points behind Romney's 16%. He came in third in two others, a NBC/Wall Street Journal survey, and another from Public Policy Polling (D). Previously, Perry hadn't made major dent in the primary polling, despite generating considerable buzz around his candidacy in the media.
The Florida poll marks the first time Perry has come in out on top in a GOP presidential primary survey. And of course, state numbers are more significant in the primary season than polls of national support.
The ARG poll was conducted from July 18th to 24th, utilizing live telephone interviews with 600 likely voters in the Florida GOP primary and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.
