Michele Bachmann Beats Out Mitt Romney in New Dem Poll

A poll unveiled by Public Policy Polling (PPP), a firm with connections to many prominent Democrats, showed that U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota has overtaken former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts as the leader in the contest for the Republican presidential nomination.

The poll, which was released on Tuesday, showed Bachmann topping the poll with 21 percent followed by Romney with 20 percent. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas placed third with 12 percent followed by businessman Herman Cain with 11 percent. U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas took fifth with 9 percent followed by former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia with 7 percent. Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota garnered 5 percent with the rest of the field trailing.

For the last month, all the momentum in the Republican presidential race has been on Michele Bachmanns side, said Dean Debnam, president of PPP. The big question is whether shell be able to sustain that if other conservatives like Rick Perry and Sarah Palin end up joining the race.

The poll of 730 Republican primary voters was taken from July 15-17. The margin of error for the survey is +/- 3.6 percent.