Texas Governor Rick Perry has officially been part of the GOP 2012 presidential for less than a week, but he's already opened up a double-digit lead over nearest rival Mitt Romney, according to a new poll from Rasmussen.

The poll of likely Republican primary voters shows Perry with 29 percent support, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney with 18 percent, and Michele Bachmann with 13 percent. Libertarian stalwart Ron Paul registers with 9 percent.

That's an improvement over Perry's performance in a hypothetical Gallup poll taken last month, before Perry officially entered the race. In that poll, which included Perry, Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin, Romney retained a slight edge on Perry, 17 percent to 15 percent.

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Ray Gustini