| Via the DMN Trailblazers blog: Asked who they'd vote for it the primary were today, 36 percent of registered likely GOP voters said Hutchison, 30 percent for Perry. A quarter say they remain undecided -- a huge number. The survey was conducted Feb. 24-March 6. The margin of error is 5.7 percent -- which means the results are effectively a tossup.
Here's a direct link to the poll, which was conducted by the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. While I still contend that polls are more or less meaningless at this stage of the game -- as evidenced by 25% undecided -- this should push back on the (worthless) conventional wisdom that Rick Perry is somehow out of this race. I still think Perry will win in the primary -- he has a presence in the state, he is more connected with the hardcore base voters that will absolutely turn out to vote, and he's a cyborg that never sleeps so he'll be able to campaign 3-4 times more than Hutchison. Other results from the poll show why either Perry or Hutchison can lose to a strong Democrat candidate in 2010: When asked if they supported or opposed reinstating legislative control over tuition rates at Texas public colleges and universities, 48% expressed support, 26% were opposed, and 27% didn't know. In a separate question, 61% said that the amount of state revenue used to make higher education more affordable should be increased.
Texas Democrats are leading on higher education issues right now, fighting to rollback the increased tuition rates and make college more affordable for all those who want to attend. |
