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POLL DATA
Election 2006
Texas Governor
Rick Perry (R) 40%
Carole Keeton Strayhorn (I) 31%
Chris Bell (D) 13%
Kinky Friedman 9%
Election 2006
Texas Governorv
Rick Perry (R) 38%
Carole Keeton Strayhorn (I) 29%
Bob Gammage (D) 18%
Kinky Friedman 8%
Texas Governor: Perry (R) Still at 40%
Strayhorn Gains Ground
Survey of 500 Likely Voters
Conducted February 6, 2006
February 14, 2006–Carole Keeton Strayhorn’s defection from the GOP to run for Governor as an Independent is making things interesting in President Bush’s home state.
In the six weeks since Strayhorn announced plans for an Independent challenge, her support has increased ten percentage points. She is now within single digits of catching Governor Rick Perry. Depending upon which Democrat is added in the mix, Perry leads Strayhorn either 40% to 31% or 38% to 29%.
In our January election poll for Texas, Strayhorn earned 21% of the vote.
Both Democratic contenders currently attract less than 20% of voters and a fourth competitor, Richard “Kinky” Friedman is in the high single digits. At the moment, the Democrats and Friedman appear as by-standers in a Republican civil war.
Perry does better among conservatives while Strayhorn draws more support from moderates and liberals.Perry has a solid edge among Republican voters, but Strayhorn has a nearly 20-point advantage over the incumbent among unaffiliated voters.
Perry is still the favorite in this race, but the unusual dynamic of a Republican official bolting the party to challenge a Republican Governor could make for a wild political season in Texas.
Strayhorn is viewed favorably by 55% of voters in Texas and unfavorably by 31%. For Perry, the numbers are 53% favorable and 45% unfavorable.
Rasmussen Reports is an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information.
Rasmussen Reports was the nation’s most accurate polling firm during the Presidential election and the only one to project both Bush and Kerry’s vote total within half a percentage point of the actual outcome.
During Election 2004, RasmussenReports.com was also the top-ranked public opinion research site on the web. We had twice as many visitors as our nearest competitor and nearly as many as all competitors combined.
Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, has been an independent pollster for more than a decade.
The telephone survey of 500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports February 6, 2006. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 4.5 percentage points at the midpoint with a 95% level of confidence.