Incumbent Republican Rick Perry holds an eight-point lead on Democratic challenger Bill White in the Texas governor’s race with less than two weeks to go until Election Day

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the Lone Star State finds Perry with 51% support, while White, a former mayor of Houston, attracts 43% of the vote. Two percent (2%) like some other candidate in the contest, and five percent (5%) remain undecided. (To see question wording, click here.)

Two weeks ago, Perry posted an 11-point lead, 53% to 42%. The new findings, while similar, are enough to move the race from Solid Republican to Leans Republican in the Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Gubernatorial Scorecard.

Perry, who is seeking an unprecedented third full-term as governor, has led the race in each of 10 previous surveys dating back to early February. In all the polling, Perry’s support has stayed near the 50% mark, ranging from a low of 47% to a high of 53%. White’s support has been between 38% and 44% of the vote.

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The survey of 500 Likely Voters in Texas was conducted on October 21, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Other data from this survey will be released at RasmussenReports.com/Texas.

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