This poll about Ben Carson shows just how messed up American politics is right now

Most of the seemingly made-up stories coming out of US politics of late all seem to stem from something that Donald Trump has said or done.

Unfortunately, whether it's claiming that all Mexican immigrants are criminals, or that he his solution to the refugee crisis is to "send them back" - the majority of them have turned to be true.

What has surprised most people, on this side of the Atlantic at least, is that with every outrageous thing the Donald utters, the further up the opinion polls he seems to shoot.

But in recent weeks, one Republican candidate has been closing ground.

In fact, a recent poll by the Des Moines Register and Bloomberg Politics even showed that former neurosurgeon Ben Carson was ahead of Trump among Republican voters in Iowa.

And, no, it's not because he's offering a voice of reason. In fact, a subsequent poll carried out by MSNBC showed that it's "because of, not in spite of, [his] bizarre rhetoric".

That's right, the poll asked likely GOP voters how they felt about Carson on a number of factors... and these were the percentages that regarded them as positives:

1. “He is not a career politician”: 85%

2. “He has no experience in foreign policy”: 42%

3. “He was highly successful as a neurosurgeon”: 88%

4. “He has said the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, is the worst thing since slavery”: 81%

5. ”He has an inspirational personal story”: 85%

6. “He has raised questions about whether a Muslim should ever be president of the United States”: 73%

7. “He has said he would be guided by his faith in God”: 89%

8. “He has said that Hitler might not have been as successful if the people had been armed”: 77%

9. “He approaches issues with common sense”: 96%

10. “He has conducted research on tissue from aborted fetuses”: 31%

More: This author just destroyed Ben Carson's argument about gun ownership and the Holocaust