Outer Glow is not gradual

I have an issue I don't understand. I've been using a glow effect on a piece of text, but when I do, the glow comes out in lines of lighter and lighter color rather than a gradual move from color to transparency. 

As shown in photos (ignore the other issues with the photo) there are harsh lines where the glow should be. The glow was created by copying the text layer and using gaussian blur on it. 

Does anyone have any clues as to how to fix this?