New Poll: Perry leads Hutchison by 12

AUSTIN -- A new poll released Tuesday by the University of Texas and the Texas Tribune shows the incumbent governor out front in his bid to win his party's nomination for re-election.

Gov. Rick Perry leads Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison by 12 points in the poll. Thirty percent of those polled said they'd vote for Hutchison; 42 percent said they'd vote for Perry.

"Hutchison went into the legislative session with a 20 point lead, and she came out about 10 points down," said Harvey Kronberg, editor of QuorumReport.com.

"Gov. Perry is trying to raise Sen. Hutchison's negatives, Sen. Hutchison is trying to raise Gov. Perry's negatives," Kronberg said. "So even though they're well-known quantities, people are finding out a lot of information they didn't know previously."

He said that's likely one of the reasons that 18 percent of those surveyed in the poll were undecided.

For Hutchison to make up the ground, Kronberg said, she'll have to attract more than the usual Republican voters.

Hutchison's campaign says the numbers aren't reliable. Her supporters point to a margin of error of more than five percent. They also say the online polling method is flawed, too.

"We're not surprised when the candidates and their campaigns in particular who don't like the numbers push back," said UT Professor Jim Henson who helped conduct the survey. "It's a very good poll that gives us a very good snapshot of what's going on at this point in time."

The poll reveals that Sen. Hutchison would do very well against a democratic opponent in the general election, but the only way to get there is to win the party's primary in March.