Neighborhood Research conducted a poll of likely Republican Iowa caucus goers last week and found potential presidential candidates Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann bringing up the rear among those rumored to run in 2012. The survey’s author, however, said that Bachmann “could be dangerous” if she puts a serious campaign forward in the next year.

Mike Huckabee fared best in the poll with 24 percent, followed by Mitt Romney at 19 percent, Sarah Palin at 11, Newt Gingrich at 8 , Pawlenty at 4, Ron Paul at 3, Michele Bachmann at 2, and Mike Pence and Haley Barbour at 1 percent each.

Rick Shaftan of Neighborhood Research wrote in a memo on Sunday, “Bachmann could be dangerous if she is serious about the campaign and is taken seriously as a candidate (her support seemed to come from Huckabee in particular and also Palin, but these are small numbers and it’s difficult to draw a conclusion).”

Bachmann garnered good name recognition at 60 percent while Pawlenty was just above her at 64 percent. For more than a year Pawlenty’s been rumored to be running; Bachmann for about a week. But, when the results were filtered by Republicans who said they were definitely attending caucuses, Bachmann’s name recognition rose to 70 percent while Pawlenty’s stayed the same.

Bachmann’s favorable rating was a bit better than Pawlenty’s with 24 percent approving and 2 percent disapproving. Pawlenty had 16 percent approving and 2 percent disapproving.

Those favorability numbers put Bachmann and Pawlenty at 6th and 7th in the total field. Huckabee was first with 59 percent approving and 6 percent disapproving.

The pollster also gave a huge caveat to Bachmann’s numbers: “Michele Bachmann’s name was included on 245 surveys over the last three nights and her numbers reflect those nights only.”

Huckabee had the best favorable/unfavorable numbers at 59-6, followed by Gingrich at 44-9, Palin 44-19, Romney 38-13, Paul 25-9, Bachmann 24-2, Pawlenty 16-2, Barbour 12-2, Santorum 10-2, Thune 7-1, Pence 6-0, Cain 4-0 and Johnson 1-0. With those definitely voting, Huckabee and Gingrich were slightly weaker while Palin was slightly stronger.