Stephen Colbert is polling better than Jon Huntsman in his home state. | REUTERS Colbert tops Huntsman in S.C.

This is not a joke, but it’s kind of funny: Stephen Colbert would edge out Jon Huntsman in the South Carolina Republican primary.

That’s according to a Public Policy Polling survey out Tuesday that found the late-night comic picking up 5 percent of the vote, compared with Huntsman’s 4 percent.


On the serious side, Mitt Romney had 27 percent, Newt Gingrich 23 percent, Rick Santorum 18 percent, while Ron Paul came in with 8 percent and Rick Perry 7 percent, according to the poll.

And as for Colbert’s proposed ballot referendum that would ask voters whether they think corporations are people — which harks back to a comment Romney made in August — 33 percent said they believe “corporations are people,” while 67 percent said “only people are people.”

Soon after the poll’s release, Huntsman laughed off PPP’s findings in an interview on Fox News Tuesday afternoon.

“Well, when I was on his show recently, he promised me the ‘Colbert bump’ — I think we’re getting that here in New Hampshire,” he said. “Now we’re going to be looking for the Colbert bump in South Carolina.”

The Public Policy Polling poll was conducted Jan. 5-7 among 1,112 likely Republican voters in the Jan. 21 primary.