Michele Bachmann,  Mitt Romney,  Polling,  President 2012

President 2012 New Hampshire GOP Watch: Michele Bachmann Breaks Through

According to the latest Magellan Strategies for NH Journal Poll.

  • Mitt Romney – 42%
  • Michele Bachmann – 10%
  • Ron Paul – 10%
  • Sarah Palin – 7%
  • Rudy Giuliani – 6%
  • Tim Pawlenty – 5%
  • Newt Gingrich – 4%
  • Herman Cain – 3%
  • Jon Huntsman – 3%

There is little doubt that Michele Bachmann’s debate performance this week is propelling these poll numbers.

With Bachmann’s strength in Iowa, the likelihood of a win there, and while she trails former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney by a goodly amount now, she is poised to give him battle in New Hampshire.

Michele Bachmann is emerging as the anti-establsihment, Tea Party and anti-Romney candidate.

But the most surprising numbers emerged when we asked which candidates had the strongest debate performance. We asked this question of the 54% of respondents who said they watched the televised debate either on WMUR or CNN.

Thirty-nine percent said Romney gave the strongest performance. But an impressive 28% said Bachmann did. No other candidate finished in double-digits. Among self-identified conservatives who watched the debate, Bachmann performed even better. Among this group, 37% said Romney had the strongest performance, while 33% said Bachmann.