You knew it had to happen: bad debate performances, shoot-from-the-hip comments about public figures and international affairs, defensive stance the last few weeks. And most of all, a right wing backlash against the Bush-Perry immigration attitude from Texas (which is more reasonable than most tea party Republicans can tolerate.)
The result?
After a quick rise in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has experienced an almost equally dramatic decline, losing about half of his support over the past month, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Perry’s slide, which comes after several uneven performances in candidate debates, has allowed former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney to resurface atop the GOP field. But the most direct beneficiary of the disenchantment with Perry is businessman Herman Cain, who is now tied for second place.
Herman Cain benefits, and as we noted last week (
Where's the love for Romney?), Romney hasn't picked up anything. In fact, he's lost a bit of ground since July.
Other notable findings are the big yawn for media darling Chris Christie, more popular with the press than the voters (didn't you guys learn anything from your flirtation with John McCain?) Christie might hurt Romney by running, and maybe that's why he's being pushed to run (sorry, Chris, it's not about you.) But there's no way he's winning the hearts of GOP voters who think Perry is too liberal on immigration.
In any case, the WaPo write-up by Balz and Cohen fingers immigration as a key factor:
Perry’s support for the Texas policy of providing in-state tuition to the children of illegal immigrants appears to be a significant problem in the GOP race. About two-thirds of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents say they are less likely to vote for a candidate who backs such a policy. Among tea party supporters, nearly eight in 10 say this position is a negative factor.
The falloff for Perry against other announced candidates has been particularly steep among those aligned with the tea party movement. In early September, Perry had a 3-to-1 advantage over any other candidate among those “strongly” backing the tea party, but his supported has plummeted from 45 percent to 10 percent in this group.
Among all conservatives, Perry’s support has been sliced in half, from 39 to 19 percent.
It's fallen with all conservatives, and this tag line has to hurt:
A majority of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents who have watched recent debates say the more they hear about Perry, the less they like him.
Who says we can't find common ground? I think most of us agree.
You can't reason with unreasonable people. Perry is done for, though it'll take months before the media will say so. Hell, they still think Huntsman is a viable candidate, and they'll be talking up the next conservative hope after Cain (already taking flak for appropriately calling Perry out on his association with the Niggerhead hunting camp.)
Look for stories about how Rick Santorum is doing in Iowa.
It's his turn next.