Comedian Stephen Colbert, who recently announced he would run for U.S. president as both a Democrat and a Republican but only in the state of South Carolina, scored 13 percent in a new poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports. 

The national telephone survey found that 13 percent chose Colbert as an independent candidate in a race against Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton and former New York mayor Republican Rudy Giuliani.

Colbert received 12 percent support when former Sen. Fred Thompson was suggested as the Republican candidate. (Clinton won both match-ups in the poll.)

The host of “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central declared his newfound political intentions last week and clarified his position a few days later, telling NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday: “I don’t want to be president. I want to run for president. There’s a difference.”

One possible outcome he envisions is winning enough votes in the Democratic primary in the state to have a single delegate to the party’s presidential convention.

“Because if, at the Democratic National Convention, somebody has to stand up and say, ‘The proud state of South Carolina, the Palmetto state, the home of the greatest peaches and shrimp in the world, casts one vote for native son, Stephen Colbert,’ I’d say I won,” Colbert said on Meet the Press.

Whether or not it’s a joke, his plan has attracted quite a bit of media attention, including reports that his run could violate federal election laws and cause trouble for his show, its corporate sponsors and Comedy Central.

“The Federal Election Commission doesn’t have a great sense of humor,” Massie Ritsch, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan group that tracks campaign finances, said to ABC News. 

– Reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst 

– Photo credit: Hyungwon Kang