There's a new queen of the 2012 presidential second-tier: Rep. Michele Bachmann.

Bachmann topped all of the so-called "second-tier" presidential candidates — including Gov. Tim Pawlenty — in the latest Gallup 2012 national presidential poll released Wednesday.

Bachmann still finished back at sixth with 4 percent, one spot and percentage point ahead of Pawlenty. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee led the four frontrunners with 18 percent, and Ron Paul — who as a 2008 candidate fits somewhere between the first and second tiers — finished fifth at 5 percent.

Wednesday's poll was the first time Bachmann has beaten Pawlenty in a presidential poll.

Bachmann's presidential ambitions have only been public for two months, and it's still unknown whether she will actually run. The Tea Party favorite is not nearly as far along in developing a campaign apparatus as Pawlenty, who is considered almost certain to make a White House bid.

For Pawlenty, who tied for seventh with 3 percent along with Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, Wednesday's Gallup poll is the latest result where he's failed to break out of the low single digits.

Pawlenty did get some good news Tuesday when South Dakota Sen. John Thune announced he was not running. Thune and Pawlenty, both from the Midwest, were considered to occupy a similar space along the spectrum of the emerging 2012 field.