Poll: Comedy Central comedian polling higher than Huntsman in South Carolina

Jon Huntsman might be the trendy pick to surge in the New Hampshire primary, but a Public Policy Polling survey released on Tuesday shows it will be a challenge for him to carry that momentum into South Carolina, where he’s currently polling behind comedian Stephen Colbert.

The PPP poll has Mitt Romney in the lead at 27 percent, followed by Newt Gingrich at 23 percent, Rick Santorum at 18 percent, Ron Paul at 8 percent, Rick Perry at 7 percent, Colbert at 5 percent and Huntsman at 4 percent.

The host of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” a satirical talk show, has used his platform to focus on the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which allows unlimited fundraising from super-PACs.

Colbert formed his own super-PAC, called “Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow,” and has used the group to needle the GOP establishment in South Carolina.

Colbert first offered to buy the naming rights for the South Carolina primary from the state’s Republican party. He wanted to name it “The Colbert Super PAC South Carolina Republican Primary” in exchange for $500,000, but the state’s GOP declined.

In addition, Colbert lobbied to get a referendum on the South Carolina primary ballot asking voters if they believed that “corporations are people” or if “only people are people,” which was also denied.

Last year Romney told an Iowa man at one of his stump speeches that “corporations are my people, my friend.”

According to the PPP poll, only 33 percent of likely voters in South Carolina believe that corporations are people, while 67 percent said that only people are people.

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