White Not Gaining Ground In Texas

A new Rasmussen Reports poll has been issued for the governor's race in Texas, and it doesn't really have any good news in it for the Democratic candidate. It shows him with an 8% deficit, but even worse it shows there has been no real movement among voters in the last month. Here are the numbers for the last two months:

AUGUST

Rick Perry (R)..........49%

Bill White (D)..........41%

Another candidate..........3%

Undecided..........7%

JULY

Rick Perry (R)..........50%

Bill White (D)..........41%

Another candidate..........2%

Undecided..........7%

Democrats will be quick to point out that the poll has a margin of error of 4.5% and Rasmussen has been known to have a slight Republican bias. Both of these are true. But in the solidly conservative state of Texas, Rasmussen has been very accurate in the recent past. Here are some of their predictions compared to actual election day percentages:

2008 - TEXAS ELECTION

Rasmussen predicted for president

John McCain (R)..........54%

Barack Obama (D)..........44%

Actual Voting %

John McCain (R)..........55%

Barack Obama (D)..........44%

Rasmussen predicted for senate

John Cornyn (R)..........55%

Rick Noriega (D)..........40%

Actual Voting %

John Cornyn (R)..........55%

Rick Noriega (D)..........43%

2006 TEXAS ELECTION

Rasmussen predicted for senate

Kay Hutchison (R)..........60%

Barbara Radnofsky (D)..........34%

Actual Voting %

Kay Hutchison (R)..........62%

Barbara Radnofsky (D)..........36%

Rasmussen predicted for governor

Rick Perry (R)..........36%

Chris Bell (D)..........25%

Actual Voting %

Rick Perry (R)..........39%

Chris Bell (D)..........30%

In addition, there are a couple of other poll numbers that break in Rick Perry's favor. Around 55% of voters say they are happy with the job the Republican governor is doing, and when a majority of voters approve of the job the incumbent is doing he is usually re-elected. Perry is also doing much better among independents than White. Here are those numbers:

INDEPENDENTS

Rick Perry (R)..........59%

Bill White (D)..........33%

It looks like Blue Dog Bill White has a lot of work to do in the next couple of months if he wants to win the governorship of Texas. Right now he's looking like a loser.