Rick Perry Continues to Lead GOP 2012 Field

With the Republican presidential candidates preparing to square off on Monday night in a debate in Tampa sponsored by CNN and the Tea Party Express, a new national poll found that Gov. Rick Perry continues to lead the race.

Perry led the CNN/Opinion Research poll with 32 percent followed by former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts with 21 percent. Texas Congressman Ron Paul took third with 13 percent. The rest of the field trailed in single digits. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota tied former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia in fourth with 7 percent followed by businessman Herman Cain with 6 percent. Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and former Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah lagged behind with 2 percent each.

The poll of 446 Republicans was taken from Sept. 9-11 and had a margin of error of +/- 4.5 percent.