From today's Dallas Morning News:
Rick Perry (R-incumbent): 38% (takes only 60 percent of his own party)
Carole Keeton Strayhorn (I) : 18% (lacks a strong base -- currently state controller elected as a Republican; mother of former White House Press Secretary Scott McLellan)
Chris Bell (D): 15% (unknown by most voters, barely holding own among core Democrats)
Kinky Friedman (I): 14% (polls well among youths but not with black voters and women; he has made some controversial racially-charged comments)
::more::
"There is an anti-Perry vote, and clearly somebody should have been able to beat him. But the anti-Perry vote is split three ways," said pollster Mickey Blum.
The top vote-getter wins; a candidate need not exceed 50 percent of the vote, and there is no runoff. What an unfortunate system! Really sad that a majority of voters actually oppose Governor Hairy, but that he will win. He is most remembered recently for conducting the bill signing for the Texas Constitutional Amendment banning same sex marriage and all incidents thereof (a super DoMA type amendment) in a right-wing fundamentalist church in the Dallas area. Can you say "theocracy"?
Statewide poll conducted for the Dallas Morning News by Blum & Weprin Associates Inc. of New York by random telephone poll of 828 likely voters Sept. 26 through Oct. 3. It has an error margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
For breakdown by race, age, and sex see Demographic Breakdown