These are really the first polls since Governor Perry got in the race. He announced his campaign Saturday, August 13, and stumbled -- if you can call it that -- on the 14th, 15th and 16th attracting all sorts of national headlines.
The polls we're talking about were done the 17th through the 21st, and Perry is on top of the field. He's leading Romney by 12 points nationally in the Gallup poll; by 13 in the Public Policy poll.
In the days after Perry announced for president, he made what his own campaign admitted were missteps. He called out the chairman of the Federal Reserve.
"I don't know what y'all would do to him in Iowa, but we, we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas," said Perry at the time.
And questioned whether the current president loved America.
"I don't know, you'd have to ask him," said Perry.
But according to two polls out Wednesday, it didn't hurt Perry among registered Republican voters.
"He looks pretty good. Saying some outrageous things gets you a lot of publicity and doesn't turn off some of the folks who are likely to vote in Republican primaries or the caucuses in Iowa," said KTRK political consultant Dr. Richard Murray.
Interestingly, the number of undecided voters stays almost the same from July, meaning there's still a lot of convincing to do. Perry jumped 11 points in the Gallup poll by stealing support from Michelle Bachmann and mostly from Mitt Romney, who now has to be a little concerned about his falling poll numbers.
"You don't want to get 10 points in August, September; so his camp is going to seriously have to consider engaging Governor Perry," said Dr. Murray.
Those undecided or other voters are still at 19 percent in the Gallup poll, meaning if someone else entered the race today there's still room to move.
Enter Sarah Palin who's still toying with the idea. In the Gallup poll, Palin would enter in third place with 11 percent and knock Perry and Romney down a bit. And against Obama it's almost a dead heat with Perry tied with Obama and Romney leading Obama by two percentage points.
Dr. Murray points out that it's still early and he blogs about what these poll numbers could mean for Perry's fundraising efforts. You can read the Prof13 blog here.
