Perry v. Romney Part III: The Aftermath

Remember way back in late August, when Rick Perry had more than a ten point lead in the polls over Mitt Romney? And everybody (me) was just like: yeah, yeah, polls don’t matter at this point, but let’s base our entire analysis on these polls anyway.

Well, we’ve seen Romney and Perry square off against each other in three debates, the first at a shrine to Reagan, one in Tampa, Fla., and one in Orlando just a few days ago. And the charm has decidedly started to wear on the big-talking Texan. Where once he had a 10 point lead only 10 days ago, he’s been dropping steadily and Romney is on the upswing, leaving Perry up less than eight points.

I’m thinking this Venn diagram still holds except (this is big) immigration is a huge weakness for Perry with GOP primary crowd. None of them like his policy in Texas of giving young illegal immigrants in-state tuition and Romney (along with all his other opponents) are going to hammer him on giving this “incentive” for people to come into the U.S. illegally. Plus, the “have a heart” comment from Perry struck exactly the wrong note – something that became clear during the focus-group discussion on Fox News. Nobody likes being told they’re heartless – even if it might be partially true.