Andrew on the new GOP 2012 Gallup poll:

Weigel can’t quite cop to the fact that he has misread Palin’s strength. This poll, moreover, was conducted before yesterday’s flurry of signs that Palin is actually running. Notice that Palin has three times Bachmann’s support and is within the margin of error next to the front-runner.

Weigel hasn’t misread her strength, if strength is what you want to call it. As Weigel observed:

But we’re talking about the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee who has been the subject of multiple books (including two of her own), two documentaries, and in some months as much as 50 percent of all media coverage of the GOP field. Fifteen percent? That’s actually about half of what she got in the very first survey of this primary, a February 2009 CNN poll.

Put another way, one of the best-known Republicans in the country now receives just 15% in a national poll after having overshadowed all other prospective candidates for the last two and a half years. If she became a candidate, that could change, but it’s telling that her numbers in national Republican polls have been in decline ever since 2009. For someone who is supposed to inspire so much enthusiasm among rank-and-file Republicans, having “three times Bachmann’s support” is a damning indictment of weakness. It’s fair to say that Romney is a remarkably weak front-runner for the same reason.

What’s more interesting about the new poll is the result that excludes Palin:

Palin supporters don’t gravitate towards any one candidate, but split up among several other Republicans.  Even when Palin is excluded from the poll, Bachmann doesn’t gain much traction, and Pawlenty gains almost nothing.  Aside from Cain’s sudden surge, the most significant news from this poll is that Pawlenty continues to get nowhere with Republican voters.