Stephen Colbert Leads In South Carolina Polls To Replace Senator Jim DeMint

Stephen Colbert and his campaign to gain appointment to the open Senate seat in South Carolina may be no joke.

A poll of South Carolina residents released Monday by Public Policy Polling, shows that the host of the Colbert Report is the pick of a plurality of respondents. Republican Jim DeMint has announced that he plans to leave his seat in the US Senate at the end of the year to take a position leading a think tank.

The poll found that Stephen Colbert was top on the list of potential Senate candidates, with 20 percent polled saying they think he should be appointed the open seat. The closest runner-up is Tim Scott, who gained 15 percent of respondents.

Stephen Colbert was raised in South Carolina, and when DeMint announced his retirement many expected Colbert to make a tongue-in-cheek run at the seat, as he has with past political positions.

Colbert called on his Twitter followers to send Governor Nikki Haley message of support for his candidacy, The Huffington Post reported — it is ultimately Haley who will decide the appointee. Haley responded by Facebook message, telling Colbert that he wouldn’t be getting the seat because he couldn’t tell her the state’s official beverage when she was a guest on his show. (It’s milk).

In reality, it will be a tough sell for Stephen Colbert to become South Carolina’s next Senator. His show and Comedy Central are not particularly popular among the Republicans they skewer, and Colbert’s support among Republicans is in the single digits.