If you already thought Stephen Colbert was way too qualified to take over Jim DeMint's vacant spot in the Senate, well, so do one in five South Carolinians: "Colbert tops the wish list of who South Carolina voters would like to see join that body at 20%, followed by Tim Scott at 15%, Trey Gowdy at 14%, Jenny Sanford at 11%, Henry McMaster and Mark Sanford at 8%, Jeff Duncan and Joe Wilson at 5%, and Mick Mulvaney at 4%," reports Public Policy Polling this afternoon. It's just the latest fantasy result from the very accurate but sometimes trolling pollsters, who last week found out that 49 percent of Republicans think ACORN, which doesn't exist, stole the 2012 election for Obama, and who found in January that Colbert was more popular in the state than Jon Huntsman. It's also sure to stoke Colbert's fake push for Gov. Nikki Haley to pick him, which he's been pushing on air and on Twitter:

"Colbert tops SC voters' Senate wish list" That's not me talking. That's SCIENCE. publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/12/c… Are you listening, @nikkihaley?

— Colbert for Senate (@ColbertforSC) December 10, 2012

As with its other notorious polls, PPP prompted the buzzy response themselves:

Would 20 percent of likely voters have written in Colbert if they weren't prompted? Probably not. But voila, there's a fun result, and you get to run the headline "Colbert tops SC voters' Senate wish list," which PPP did. And that's a lot more fun than the more important reality of actually having to pick among from actual candidates sans Colbert, which PPP found:

Alleged actual GOP frontrunner Tim Scott might not make anyone too comfortable, but when you're trailing a fake candidate and the wife of Argentine affair-loving former Gov. Mark Sanford, well, you might have some problems — at least with the polls.

Update: Sorry, Stephen, but it's looking more and more like Scott after all.

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Alexander Abad-Santos