I don't buy it. First off from a national standpoint virtually nobody votes in online polls. Thus a very few paulistinians can sit and vote for their guy over and over for hours and influence them. That won't work in primaries where (for the most part) you only get to vote once. Paul's numbers are so infintesimal his kook supporters can't influence jack.
All they have to do is spam a few of the early primary states with open primaries...
And they have plenty of support across the aisle. Just not in the legitimate Republican Party.