Right-tilting Rasmussen poll confirms Perry's weakness, Bell's gains [View All]

[Czolgosz]

The last SurveyUSA poll had Perry's support at an anemic 35% and Bell gaining:

35% - James "Rick" Perry
21% - Richard "Kinky" Friedman
20% - Chris Bell
19% - Carole Keeton McClellan Rylander "But Not Grandma" Strayhorn

The subsequent Rasumssen poll (which always over counts right-wing voters) had Perry's numbers back up and Bell's back down. Now, even the Righty-Rasmussen poll has Perry down to 35% and Bell back up to 18%:

35% - James "Rick" Perry
18% - Richard "Kinky" Friedman
18% - Chris Bell
18% - Carole Keeton McClellan Rylander "But Not Grandma" Strayhorn

http://victoriakos.blogspot.com/2006/08/bell-gains-on-perry-in-latest-poll.html

While 18% and a three-way tie for second is generally nothing to brag about, you have to keep in mind that Rasmussen has always put Bell's numbers a consistent 5% to 9% below the more accurate Wall Street Journal-Zogby and SurveyUSA polls and has consistently inflated Perry's numbers by a few percentage points over those other polls.

If Rasmussen has Bell closing the gap between Perry and Bell by 10% in less than a month, you can bet that the gap is even smaller than Rasmussen's numbers would suggest and that this gap is truly closing quickly.

Notwithstanding the right-tilt of the Rasmussen polls, Bell (up 5%) is the only candidate rising in the latest Rasmussen poll while Perry (down 5%), Strayhorn (down 2%), and Kinky (down 1%) are all falling.