The Hill News

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has emerged as the favorite Republican presidential candidate of Tea Party activists, according to a new Gallup poll released Friday.

Thirty-five percent of Tea Party supporters said they support Perry for president, more than twice the amount of support from the Tea Party enjoyed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.).

Romney and Bachmann each received support from 14 percent of Tea Partiers.  Twelve percent backed Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and six percent b! acked pizza magnate Herman Cain.

The results suggest that Perry has emerged as the favorite of Tea Partiers, mostly opposite Bachmann, who's aggressively courted the support of those grassroots conservative voters in her bid for the presidency.

Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who don't support the Tea Party, Romney leads. Twenty-three percent of non-Tea Partiers support Romney, but Perry isn't trailing by much, checking in second, at 20 percent.

The poll, conducted Aug. 17-21, has a four percent margin of error.