Republican incumbent Rick Perry holds a modest lead over Democratic challenger Bill White again this month in his bid for a third term as governor of Texas.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the Lone Star State shows Perry with 50% support. White, a former mayor of Houston, picks up 41% of the vote. Two percent (2%) like another candidate in the race, and seven percent (7%) are undecided.

In mid-June, Perry held a 48% to 40% lead over White. 

In match-ups since February, Perry’s support has remained in the tight range of 47% to 51%. White has earned 38% to 44% of the vote in that same period. The two men ran closest in April when Perry held a narrow four-point lead, 48% to 44%. 

White faces a tough race in a state that trends conservative Republican. Perry has been highly critical of the federal government, increasingly so over the last couple of years, and what he views as its intrusion on states’ rights. This is likely to play well in a state where voters are more strongly critical than voters nationally of the new health care bill and the Obama administration’s legal challenge of Arizona’s immigration law.

Texas is challenging the health care law in court and has joined eight other states in a legal brief in defense of the Arizona immigration law.

Fifty-five percent (55%) of Texas voters now approve of the job Perry is doing as governor, while 44% disapprove. These findings have remained steady for several months now.

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The survey of 500 Likely Voters in Texas was conducted on July 13, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology. 

Perry has a small lead among both male and female voters in the state. Voters not affiliated with either major party favor the GOP incumbent by six points.

Twelve percent (12%) of Texas voters now rate the economy as good or excellent, but 51% say it’s poor. Twenty-five percent (25%) think the economy is getting better, but twice as many (50%) say it’s getting worse.

Sixty-six percent (66%) favor repeal of the health care bill, well above findings nationally. Thirty percent (30%) oppose repeal.

Just 28% of voters in Texas agree with the Justice Department’s decision to challenge the Arizona immigration law. Sixty-four percent (64%) disagree with that decision, compared to 56% of voters nationwide.

Seventeen percent (17%) of all voters in the state have a Very Favorable opinion of Perry, while 20% view him Very Unfavorably.

White is regarded Very favorably by 24% and Very Unfavorably by 18%.

Both men are well-known in the state, but at this point in a campaign, Rasmussen Reports considers the number of people with strong opinions more significant than the total favorable/unfavorable numbers.

Thirty-seven percent (37%) of Texas voters approve of how President Obama is doing his job. Sixty-three percent (63%) disapprove. This is a much higher level of disapproval than is found nationally in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.

In 2008, Rasmussen Reports projected nationally that Obama would defeat John McCain by a 52% to 46% margin. Obama won 53% to 46%. Four years earlier, Rasmussen Reports projected the national vote totals for both George W. Bush and John Kerry within half-a-percentage-point.

In Texas, Rasmussen Reports polled on two races during the 2008 campaign. In the race for president, Rasmussen polling showed McCain leading Obama 54% to 44%. McCain won the state 55% to 44%. In the 2008 Senate race, Rasmussen polling showed John Cornyn leading Richard Noriega 55% to 40%. Cornyn won 55% to 43%.

In the 2006 race for U.S. Senate, Rasmussen polling showed Kay Bailey Hutchison winning 60% to 34% over Barbara Radnofsky. Hutchison won 62% to 36%. In that year’s race for governor, the final Rasmussen Reports poll showed Perry leading a four-way race by 11 points with Perry at 36% and Chris Bell at 25%. Perry won by nine, 39% to 30%.

Rasmussen Reports also has released recent polls on the 2010 governor's races in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon,   Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

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