from SLATE: Poll: Stephen Colbert Would Beat Huntsman in S.C. Democratic pollsters wonder what would have happened if Comedy Central star found his way onto the GOP ballot. By Josh Voorhees | Posted Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012, at 1:06 PM ET
What would have happened if Stephen Colbert had made his way onto the S.C. GOP ballot? Stephen Colbert hasn't had any luck in his bid to sponsor the South Carolina GOP primary, but a leading Democratic polling firm went ahead and gave him a consolation prize. Public Policy Polling added the Comedy Central star's name to its latest survey of likely Palmetto State primary voters. The results: Colbert comes in 6th in the GOP field with 5 percent, behind Mitt Romney (27 percent), Newt Gingrich (23), Rick Santorum (18), Ron Paul (8) and Rick Perry (7). The comedian did, however, fare better than both Jon Huntsman (4 percent) and Buddy Roemer (1 percent), although we're guessing that the gap between Colbert and Huntsman falls within the survey's margin of error. Still, it isn't exactly good news for the former Utah governor's White House aspirations. As the PPP pollsters explain: "Even if Huntsman finishes second in New Hampshire tonight it doesn't speak well for his prospects down the line that he's running behind Stephen Colbert." Colbert, of course, is not on the Palmetto State ballot, so the poll does little more than add a much-needed dash of humor to the GOP campaign. Still, we love political hypotheticals as much as the next guy, so here's a few more numbers from the PPP survey that don't exactly come as a shocker: Among Democratic voters who plan on voting in the GOP primary (as they are allowed to do in the state's open contest), 34 percent said they'd support Colbert if he was on the ballot, only four percent less than the combined total percent of voters who say they back Romney (15), Gingrich (13) and Santorum (10). (Of course, we're guessing that at least a chunk of those Democratic respondents may have been having a little fun with an obviously hypothetical question.) PPP says that leads to a "serious question" (we say it leads to a "question"): If Colbert had found his way onto the ballot would enough Dems have turned out to put him in the top-tier of GOP candidates? "My guess," writes the unnamed PPP pollster who blogged about the survey, "is if he'd really put some effort into it he could have won 10-15% of the vote and nabbed himself a 4th place finish there." The PPP survey does have one other nugget with a little more weight, however. The pollsters asked South Carolina voters about the non-binding "corporate personhood" referendum Colbert hoped to land on the ballot that would ask voters whether "corporations are people" or "only people are people." Only a third of likely voters said they think "corporations are people" compared to two thirds who think that "only people are people." Further, a majority of supporters of every GOP candidate -- including Mitt Romney -- say that they believe that "only people are people." Full PPP numbers here (http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2011/ColbertTabs.pdf ). (Usual PPP disclaimer: It is a Dem-affiliated firm, but its numbers traditionally fall in line with most other major pollsters.) -- Jim Devine / It's time to Occupy the New Year! _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
