Chris Cillizza has a good run-down of Bachmann’s fade in the national polls. If this trend holds, it’s bad news for Romney who needs a strong Bachmann to try to check Perry in Iowa. If the Texan wins Iowa, he’ll be very hard to stop:
In the July NBC/WSJ poll, Bachmann took 20 percent among tea party supporters, second only to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney who, thanks to a broad name identification edge over the field at that time, received 24 percent. Perry, still a month from becoming an official candidate when that poll was taken, took 13 percent among self identified tea party supporters.
Fast forward to today where Perry takes 45 percent among tea partiers as compared to 18 percent for Romney and 10 percent for Texas Rep. Ron Pau l. Bachmann comes in at just seven percent — losing nearly to-thirds of her support from the July survey.
That erosion seems tied to a lack of faith in Bachmann’s ability to handle the predominant issue of the day — the economy — as well as doubts about whether she can beat President Obama next fall.
In the Post/ABC poll just five percent said Bachmann would do the best job of handling the economy of anyone in the GOP field; Perry and Romney led the way on that question with 22 percent each. (Bachmann ranked below the likes of Paul and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.)
And, just four percent said that Bachmann gave the GOP the best chance to beat President Obama in 2012, well behind the 30 percent who said the same of Perry.