- 12% Stephen Colbert’s poll numbers for a hypothetical presidential run in his home state of South Carolina — in a three-way against Perry and Obama
- 24% Colbert’s level of support amongst “independent” South Carolinians, just behind Perry at 27%, and actually besting Obama at 22% source
- » And obviously, there are other horses in the race. The surprise takeaway of this poll, the endlessly amusing inclusion of Colbert-related polling values aside, is the divergence in the state primary and national prospects of Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. Despite being favored to beat Romney in a primary, Romney polls much stronger in a South Carolina general election against Obama than Perry does. The key may be those “independent” voters again — Romney leads Obama by 16% amongst independents, while Perry only leads Obama by 3%.