2012

Rick Perry Is Tea Party Favorite

Has 21-point lead over Romney in national poll.

Texas Governor Rick Perry is the favorite presidential candidate of people who support the Tea Party, according to Gallup’s latest poll. Perry is preferred by 35 percent of people who support the Tea Party, while Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann are tied for second each with 14 percent. Perry is moving to shore up support with the right wing of the Republican Party too. After rankling some conservative feathers earlier this year by suggesting that gay marriage should be up to the states, Perry signed the National Organization for Marriage’s anti-gay marriage pledge, which says candidates will support a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman; defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court; reject federal judges who support gay marriage; and protect the “religious liberty” of gay-marriage opponents.