WFAA-TV

A new web-based poll from The Texas Tribune, an online publication, and the University of Texas has Gov. Rick Perry leading over Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison by the largest percentage yet.

The University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll puts Perry over Hutchison with a 12 percent difference. While Perry received 42 percent of the vote and Hutchison 30, a poll released last month by Rasmussen gave Hutchison a two-point lead.

"These pollsters have had them in the 10 to 12 point range for a while," said Ross Ramsey, The Texas Tribune's managing editor. "These things tend to close up when the candidates get out and start advertising and all that."

The Hutchison campaign sent out a four-page memo attacking the University of Texas/Texas Tribune survey. The statement said Internet polls lack a basis in scientific validity. And in this particular poll, the memo stated, it does not use a random sample. The sample was too young and small.

In the recently released survey, 800 registered voters participated online.

"These are professional pollsters at the University of Texas," Ramsey said. "Darren Shaw is a Republican pollster. Jim Hendon is a Democrat, and I'm pretty confident in their ability to do this stuff."

On the Democrat's side, the poll shows Kinky Friedman leading with 19 percent, which was a nearly double lead over Fort Worth's Tom Schieffer.

"The knowable thing on that side of the ballot is that 56 percent are undecided," Ramsey said.

In the general election, the poll showed Perry lead Schieffer by 11 points. Hutchison beat Schieffer out by 20. Against an unnamed generic Democrat, Hutchison's lead was 11, but Perry's was only two percent.

"If Perry wins, there will be some Hutchison voters who won't vote for him," said Harvey Kronberg, publisher of the Quorum Report. "If Hutchinson wins, there will be some Perry voters who won't vote for her."

Most expect the poll numbers to shift. The primary is still four months away.

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