The latest CNN poll provides more evidence that Michele Bachmann has been hurt by Rick Perry’s entry into the Republican presidential race. The survey of Republicans nationally found Perry leading with 32 percent of the vote, followed by Mitt Romney at 21 percent, and Ron Paul at 13 percent. Bachmann ties Newt Gingrich for fourth at 7 percent, just a point ahead of Herman Cain at 6 percent.

If Sarah Palin gets in, Bachmann slides all the way down to seventh place. Under that scenario, the poll found that 30 percent of Republicans picked Perry, 18 percent Romney, 15 percent Palin, 12 percent Paul, Gingrich and Cain at 5 percent each, followed by Bachmann at just 4 percent. That would put Bachmann, who pre-Perry had moved into second place nationally and first place in Iowa, only two points ahead of Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman.

Other polls have shown similar, if somewhat less pronounced, slippage. Bachmann will need to do well at the debate tonight to stay afloat, assuming the moderators let her. She made some strong points in the less debate when she rightly argued Obamacare can’t be repealed by executive order, but she was frequently ignored by the questioners in favor of Perry and Romney.