Poll: Trump surges to top of GOP pack

Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty come in dead last, tied at 4 percent.

Trump has been steadily climbing in public polling and continues to push “birther” claims in interviews and public appearances. Trump has demanded that President Obama produce his birth certificate and says questions over his birthplace are legitimate.

The PPP poll found 23 percent of Republican voters said they are only willing to vote for a “birther” next year, and among that group, Trump runs away from the rest of the field.

Trump takes 37 percent of those voters, while Huckabee and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin tie for second with that group at just 13 percent.

The survey polled 400 Republican primary voters and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.9 percentage points.

The biggest takeaway from the poll, argues one GOP strategist in an email, is not that Trump is surging as much as it is that Republican voters are looking to alternatives to the current crop of 2012 hopefuls.

“I don’t think they want [Trump],” the strategist said of GOP voters. “I think they want it to be known that they’d like to see other people in this race.”