Obama 44%, Perry 38%

While Texas Governor Rick Perry has been widely criticized for his debate performance last Thursday in Florida, that criticism doesn't seem to have moved the numbers in a hypothetical Election 2012 matchup with President Obama. The president still holds a single-digit lead over the frontrunner in the GOP primary race.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows Obama earning 44% support from Likely U.S. Voters, while Perry picks up 38% of the vote.  Ten percent (10%) prefer some other candidate, and another eight percent (8%) are undecided.  (To see survey question wording, click here.)

These findings show little change from two weeks ago when the president held a 46% to 39% advantage over Perry.  In late August, Perry edged Obama 44% to 41%.  A week before that, the two candidates were similarly matched with Obama slightly ahead 43% to 40%.

The latest survey was taken on Thursday evening, the same night as the GOP debate in Florida, and on Friday evening.Perry carries just 68% of Republicans, while Obama has the backing of 77% of Democrats. Voters not affiliated with either party prefer the incumbent 40% to 29%, with 31% either undecided or in favor of another candidate. 

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney remains the GOP hopeful who runs best against the president, with the two candidates essentially tied. Former Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann continues to fade in the latest hypothetical 2012 matchup with Obama. The president is now ahead of the congresswoman by 16 points, 48% to 32%.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on September 22-23, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.