2010: Perry Up 16 in Newspapers' Poll

A poll by Texas newspapers released Saturday night has Gov. Rick Perry leading his Republican primary challengers with 45 percent of the vote. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has 29 percent, and former Wharton County GOP chair has 17 percent. The poll was taken February 2 to February 10 — before Medina's comments about the 9/11 attacks ignited a media firestorm — and reflects the preferences of 464 likely GOP voters, with a margin of error of +/- 4.5 percent. The poll does not indicate a preference in the Democratic gubernatorial primary between former Houston mayor Bill White and six challengers because, according to a story in the Austin American-Statesman, the "overall sample size was not large enough to poll Democratic primary voters."

On Friday, results of the second University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll were released, finding Perry in the lead with 45, Hutchison in second with 21, and Medina close behind with 19. White led businessman Farouk Shami 50-11 in the Democratic race.

In hypothetical fall match-ups, Perry leads White 43-37, while Hutchison leads White 42-34. Those margins were 44-35 and 43-34, respectively, in the UT/TT poll.