Insurgent Tea Party candidate Michele Bachmann has narrowly taken the lead in PPP’s latest national poll of the Republican presidential primary:
Michele Bachmann’s momentum continues to build and she’s taken first place by the smallest of margins on PPP’s newest national Presidential poll. 21% of Republican primary voters say she’s their top choice to 20% for Mitt Romney, 12% for Rick Perry, 11% for Herman Cain, 9% for Ron Paul, 7% for Newt Gingrich, 5% for Tim Pawlenty, and 3% for Jon Huntsman.
Bachmann’s rise has been fueled by her appeal to voters on the far right- and their skepticism about Romney. Romney has the lead with centrist Republicans (23-17) and with those defining themselves as only somewhat right of center (24-17). But among ‘very conservative’ voters only 48% have a positive opinion of Romney to 34% who view him negatively, weak numbers, and Bachmann’s capitalizing on that with a 26-15 lead over Romney, who’s in third place with that group of voters.
She may be peaking too soon; Obama didn’t seize the national lead in Democratic primary polls until 2008. Also note the not-yet-announced Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s strong showing; he can expect a bounce when he does enter the race next month.
