TEXAS — Texas voters think the economy is the biggest problem facing the country but immigration is the most pressing issue facing the state, according to the new University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll.

That coincides with the rise of Gov. Rick Perry's policies on illegal immigration as an issue in the presidential race and with his relative electoral weakness in Texas, where the UT/TT poll has the governor in a virtual tie with former business executive Herman Cain among the state’s Republican voters.

Texas voters are also much more likely to say the state is moving in the right direction than the country, and that the state’s economy is faring better than the national economy. And half of them say the state government in Texas is a good model for other states to follow.

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