I think he has a certain appeal to the small-government types, and I believe there are a lot of genuine people that support Rep. Paul (he polls well among independents).
The problem is that he also draws the truthers and the white supremacists. There’s a reason Paul gets the likes of David Duke, Hal Turner and Alex Jones, and it’s because he panders to them by showing up on Jones’s show. That, I think, has hurt his chances more than anything because those types aren’t interested in voting (they think it’s a corrupt process) and aren’t drawing away votes from other GOP candidates, but the extreme views and tactics of his supporters may be alienating those who agree with Paul on the issues but don’t want to be associated with those types.
It total demagoguery on Paul’s parts. He makes promises he knows he would never ever be able to keep even if he were elected.
So either Paul is a mental incompetent who has utterly no clue about the Constitutional powers, and limitations, of the office of President or he is a total fraud cynically manipulating the emotional hot buttons of the political fingers. Either way he is completely unqualified to be President of the USA.