Two new polls today show Mitt Romney with a significant lead over the rest of the GOP presidential field. First there’s Rasmussen, which found 33 percent of likely Republican voters supporting Romney, with Rep. Michele Bachmann coming in at a surprise second place at 19 percent. The rest of the candidates — Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman — all garner 10 percent or less.

The second poll by NBC/Wall Street Journal also has Romney in the lead with 30 percent of registered GOP primary voters supporting him. But when it comes to the rest of the candidates, the poll found markedly less support for Bachmann than Rasmussen, possibly because it included Sarah Palin and Rick Perry as contenders. Palin gets 14 percent support, Cain gets 12 percent, Perry gets 8 percent, Paul gets 7 percent and Gingrich gets 6 percent. Bachmann and the rest of the field — Pawlenty, Santorum and Huntsman – each bring in less than 5 percent.

One question in the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll removed Palin, Perry, Huntsman, Cain from the equation, which gave Romney 43 percent support. Bachmann ties Paul for second place at 11 percent, which is still significantly lower than her showing in the Rasmussen poll.

One reason for the discrepancy may be because the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll took place during the June 9- June 13 period, which was mainly before Bachmann’s breakout performance in the New Hampshire debate on June 13. The Rasmussen poll was taken after the debate.

The two polls give the Romney campaign a major boost, and he’s quickly solidifying his position as the definitive frontrunner. They also underscore a growing problem for Pawlenty, who failed to position himself as the Romney alternative in either poll. But the Rasmussen findings should give Bachmann’s campaign reasons for optimism — she seems to be eclipsing Pawlenty as Romney’s biggest competitor. Her objective now is to keep this momentum going.