Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is one incumbent whose campaign seems unimpaired by the malaise afflicting the GOP this election year.

It's a stable race. The Senator's present lead of 58% to 32% over Democrat Barbara Ann Radnofsky represents a slight decline since last month. (see crosstabs) But it is identical to the lead our three-poll rolling average has shown for months. And though Radnofsky is doing better than she was early in the year, she has been unable to garner more than 34% support in any single survey.

Hutchison enjoys a 68% favorable rating, with 39% viewing her "very favorably," only 9% viewing her "very unfavorably."

Radnofsky is viewed very favorably by only 10%, very unfavorably by 14%. Most of her favorable and unfavorable numbers are in the soft "somewhat" category. But her biggest problem is that, just a couple months from the election, 28% of those surveyed still don't know her well enough to even venture a soft opinion.

With a 55% approval rating, including 32% who "strongly approve" of the job he's doing, President George W. Bush does better among fellow Texans than he does elsewhere in the country. Even so, most voters who disapprove of his performance (44%) are in the "strongly disapprove" category (35%), which echoes other states. When voters give thumbs down to the job the President is doing, they tend to do so intensely.

Hutchison is seen as politically conservative by 46% of all voters and as moderate by 40%. Fifty-three percent (53%) of GOP voters see her as conservative. By a slight margin, Democrats are more likely to see her as moderate than as conservative.

Texas voters tend to trust President Bush more than congressional Democrats on both national security and economic issues.

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