A new poll, published Thursday by the Wall Street Journal and NBC shows that their performances in this week's presidential debate notwithstanding, both Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann have a lot of ground to gain if they have any hope of snaring the Republican presidential nomination next year.

But a separate poll, considered somewhat less methodologically rigorous, shows Bachmann surging in the wake of her lavishly-praised turn in Monday's GOP debate. She's reached double digits among likely GOP primary voters, something Pawlenty hasn't managed in all of his months of campaigning.

Both Minnesotans, the former governor and the current Sixth District member of Congress, are mired in margin-of-error territory in the Journal/NBC poll. It found.that 4 percent of Republicans nationwide favored Pawlenty for the party's nomination, while 3 percent backed Bachmann. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the putative Republican frontrunner, blew away the rest of the field, with the backing of 30 percent of those polled.

Bachmann is so new to the presidential race that the polltakers didn't include her in their favorability ratings. Pawlenty, though, after months on the stump, registered 3 percent among Republicans who had a "very favorable" impression of him, compared to 46 percent who had never heard of him.

Full poll results can be read here.

Another poll, conducted by Rasmussen Reports after the debate, found Bachmann in "a surprise second" to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, with the support of 19 percent of likely Republican primary voters. Romney was supported by 33 percent, while Pawlenty languishes at 6 percent.

Among likely primary voters who call themselves Tea Party members, Bachmann and Romney are tied, at 26 percent.

Rasmussen polls have been questioned in the past because they rely on robo-calling, instead of traditional person-to-person interviews. For a full story on the poll, click here.