Ron Paul's favorability soars among Democrats

Newsletter scandal boosts Paul's support among Dems from 59% to 70%

From Eric Dondero:

Ron Paul has received a great deal of negative publicity in the last week over what many have termed are racist and homo-phobic comments he made in the early 1990s, in various newsletters under his name. But that doesn't seem to have hurt his standing with members of the Democrat Party. David Weigel, formerly with Reason magazine, reports over at Slate:

If Ron Paul was suffering and taking damage from... his old newsletters, what sort of voters would... be offended by signed editorials about fleet-footed blacks and skeezy gay men... you'd expect independents, Democrats and liberals, the people boosting Paul in Iowa and New Hampshire, to react the most negatively.

But according to Public Policy Polling's newest numbers (PPP), last week:

The numbers from last week indicate that Republican support has slipped, but Democrats for Paul have soared:
Meanwhile, political analyst John Hayward of the conservative Human Events reports on a new poll from Ask America of 889 likely GOP caucus voters. In it, Mitt Romney leads the poll with 24%, followed by Rick Santorum at 17%, Ron Paul 14%, and Newt Gingrich at 13%.

Hayward:

the remarkable news... Rick Santorum has muscled into second place, while former Iowa frontrunner Ron Paul has fallen into third

He notes interestingly:

Paul also benefits from a good deal of “Operation Chaos”-type support from Democrats who have absolutely no intention of voting for him over Obama in the general election, and might lose interest in him as a vehicle for future open-primary meddling if he can’t manage a strong Iowa finish. Since Obama faces no primary challenge, there will be lots of Democrats in open-primary states with time on their hands this year.