Python is more popular these days, by some measures. I don't think that's really any sort of meaningful trend. I think the core reason is to do with first languages.
Python is more like Java, where Perl is more like C. The rise of Python I would surmise is correlated to the rise of Java. It's certainly true that a lot of the criticism I hear of Perl is that it inherit C's tendency towards making obfuscated code really easily. I can't really dispute that - there's some really amazing examples of inscrutable code out there. (My personal favourite is this one: http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=118799)
Of course, I also counter that assertion by pointing out that you can write bad code in any language. A good programmer doesn't. And for that, Perl is actually pretty good - you can write idiomatically good code that's very clear... if you care to.
I wouldn't say there's a winner or loser in this holy war. Python gains popularity, but Perl isn't going anywhere any time soon. Most things are starting to become API driven, so as long as you scripting language can speak to the internet, parse JSON and XML then anything else is a matter of personal preference.
