Trump leads new GOP Presidential poll by 9 points

The PPP Poll, released today shows Trump garnering 26% of the vote, followed by Huckabee at 17%, Romney at 15% followed by Gingrich at 11%, Palin t 8% and Ron Paul, Bachmann and Pawlenty picking up the scraps. If anything this illustrates the general weakness of the field. Gingrich is a joke who can never win, the same goes for Palin and Bachmann. Paul is far too libertarian for social conservatives which leaves Huckabee, Romney and Pawlenty along with Trump.

Trump doesn't have a solid social conservative record and comments over a decade ago about an additional tax of 14.25% on the wealth of the rich will be dredged up from his past. He might be crazy enough to run as an Independent but outcrazying all but the most extreme birthers can only get you so far. Romney is the 'serious' candidate with a relatively high visibility and many of the right credentials but the fact that he is languishing in the mid teens says a lot about the problems he'll be facing.

Pawlenty could become a force with his 4% rating an indication that it's far too early to write him off, which leaves Huckabee who has that affable veneer that hides the fact that he's veered much further to the right over the past few years.

It's way too early to draw any conclusions but Trump getting a the support of one out of four Republicans speaks volumes about the state of the party their success in 2010.

UPDATE

Key finding: Just 38% of Republican primary voters say they're willing to support a candidate for President next year who firmly rejects the birther theory. With the other 62% of Republicans -- 23% of whom say they are only willing to vote for a birther and 39% of whom are not sure -- Trump is cleaning up.

Yet another illustration of just how batshit crazy the GOP base has become and that Trump, if nothing else, is the latest in a long line of brilliant American hucksters.