Fred! Grabs Lead in NC Primary Poll

Via WRAL:

According to a recent survey, Fred Thompson, who has not yet announced his presidential candidacy, has jumped into the lead in the North Carolina Republican primary.

The survey, released by Public Policy Polling, shows 37 percent of likely Republican primary voters would vote for the former senator from Tennessee -- a 12 percent increase from May.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani dropped to second place with 25 percent of likely Republican voters. Former Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney both garnered 14 percent.

Nine percent of Republican voters said they supported a candidate other than Thompson, Giuliani, McCain and Romney and 1 percent said they were undecided.

Not a bad showing at all, especially from someone who has yet to officially declare.

I must also confess that I'm a bit surprised at the strength of Fred!'s showing, leaping to a twelve-point lead over second-place Rudy Giuliani at a time that I didn't think he yet had made significant media penetration outside of the political junkies in the blogosphere.

In the same poll, John Edwards (30-percent) was leading the Democratic herd ahead of Hillary Clinton (26-percent) and Barack Obama (22-percent), suggesting that the recreational use of crystal meth is far more widespread in North Carolina than was previously believed.