A USA Today/Gallup poll unveiled on Tuesday found that Texas Gov. Rick Perry led the field for the Republican presidential nomination -- but did not do as well as GOP rival former Gov. Mitt Romney when matched up against President Barack Obama.

Perry topped the national poll with 31 percent, followed by Romney who took second with 24 percent. U.S. Rep. Ron Paul stood in third with 13 percent.

The rest of the field lagged in single digits. Support for U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann continued to slide. She garnered 5 percent -- placing her in a tie with former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia and businessman Herman Cain for a distant fourth. Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania took 2 percent followed by former Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah with 1 percent.

When the rest of the field was taken out of the equation, Perry continued to lead Romney 49 percent to 39 percent. A majority of conservative Republicans and tea party supporters backed Perry, while moderates and non-tea party supporters leaned toward Romney.

A majority of Republicans surveyed -- 53 percent -- thought it was more important to nominate a candidate they felt would beat Obama, while 43 percent thought it was more important that the party’s nominee stood with them on the issues.

Romney had a slight lead over Obama among all those polled and with registered voters. The former Massachusetts governor beat the president 48 percent to 46 percent overall and 49 percent to 47 percent with registered voters.

Obama led Perry by 4 points overall -- and took 50 percent among registered voters with the Texas governor following with 45 percent.

The USA Today/Gallup poll of 1,004 adults was conducted from Sept. 15-18 and had a margin of error of +/- 4 percent. The sample of 889 registered voters also had a margin of error of +/- 4 percent. The sample of 439 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents had a margin of error of +/- 6 percent.

A national poll released by CBS News and the New York Times over the weekend found Perry leading the pack of hopefuls for the Republican presidential nomination with 23 percent. Romney took second with 19 percent. Gingrich and Bachmann tied for third with 7 percent. Cain and Paul were knotted with 5 percent each. Santorum and Huntsman took 1 percent each. The poll of 781 Republicans was taken from Sept. 10-15 and had a margin of error of +/- 4 percent.

Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.