Barely a month into his 2012 bid, Rick Perry has opened a significant lead over his Republican presidential rivals, with a new poll finding that GOP voters view him as the candidate with the best chance to beat President Obama.

A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey finds that 42 percent of likely Republican voters believe Perry has the best odds against Obama—a significant lead over his chief rival, Mitt Romney (26 percent). No other GOP hopeful made out of single digits on the question--including Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, who were tied at 5 percent a piece on the Obama query.

It's a key question in the Republican race, as 75 percent of those polled say they are basing their primary vote on electability. Just 24 percent said they want a GOP nominee who agrees with them on all the issues.

Still, there is a difference between perception and reality. As The Ticket previously reported, an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released last week found that Perry performed worse than Romney in a head to head match-up with Obama.

According to the just released CNN survey, Perry still has a sizable lead over his rivals when it comes to general preferences in the primary. Thirty-two percent of Republican voters surveyed want the Texas governor to be the nominee, compared to 21 percent for Romney and 13 percent for Paul. (If Sarah Palin is added into the mix, the numbers are slightly different: 30 percent prefer Perry; Romney, 18 percent; Palin, 15 percent; and Paul, 10 percent.)

Preferences aside, 41 percent of GOP voters think Perry will win the Republican nomination, while 28 percent believe Romney will emerge the ultimate victor. No other candidate made it out of single digits.