Authors: Joshua Cohan

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- After just one week on the campaign trail, Rick Perry jumped to the front of the Republican pack in a new Gallup poll released Wednesday, leading frontrunner Mitt Romney by 12 percent.
Of 1,040 polled Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 29 percent said they would likely support Perry as their party’s nominee while only 17 percent said they’d pick Romney.
This is a change from July’s Gallup poll which indicated Romney in the lead with 23 percent of Republicans’ support while Perry, who was undeclared at the time, garnered 18 percent of Republicans’ support.
The poll released Wednesday was conducted Aug. 17-21, just days after the Texas governor entered the race, the results of the Ames Iowa Straw Poll were announced, and Tim Pawlenty dropped out of the race.
Trailing behind Perry and Romney in the August Gallup Poll are Ron Paul (13 percent), who jumped ahead of Michele Bachmann (10 percent), Herman Cain (4 percent), Newt Gingrich (4 percent), Rick Santorum (3 percent), and Jon Huntsman (1 percent).  
If you throw potential candidates Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani into the mix, Perry and Romney remain on top with 25 percent and 14 percent, respectively.  Palin ties Paul with 11 percent of supporters, followed by Giuliani at 9 percent and Bachmann at 7 percent.
Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

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