Michelle Bachmann is polling in a close 2nd place to Romney in Iowa. Granted, this is because she has a quasi-home turf advantage. After all, she's from the same town as
John Wayne! Oops. Wrong John Wayne. But never you mind that, she
meant the right thing and that's what matters! Stop your gotcha liberal journalism, goshdarnit!
Bill Maher said it best: Bachmann is for people who like Palin, but think she's too intellectual.
I think she'll do well in Iowa and South Carolina, because both states have a lot of religious social conservatives. I think she'll get slapped down hard in New Hampshire. New England Republicans are an entirely different (and altogether more sensible) breed, mostly focused on fiscal conservatism. I expect Romney to clean her clock there, and that's when the fireworks will start.
The interesting thing is that if you poll "Republican candidate vs. Obama", you get mixed results, and a fairly close race either way. If you poll specific candidates against Obama, it's a curb-stomp race that ends with Obama chillaxin' on his throne as his enemies are crushed beneath his heel. With the slight exception of Romney, who puts up a decent challenge but still loses. Palin and Bachmann are the worst pollers, -18 and -17.7 points respectively.
So basically, people ain't thrilled with Obama right now, but they sure as hell ain't thrilled with the craptastic GOP field either.