diff --git a/src/reqwest.js b/src/reqwest.js
index 00e39a8..b950f4e 100644
--- a/src/reqwest.js
+++ b/src/reqwest.js
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@
       } catch (e) {
         // can't assign this in IE<=8, just ignore
       }
-      if (r) {
+      if (r || r == '') {
         switch (type) {
         case 'json':
           try {
diff --git a/tests/fixtures/empty.html b/tests/fixtures/empty.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/tests/tests.js b/tests/tests.js
index 663f1d7..cb56d65 100644
--- a/tests/tests.js
+++ b/tests/tests.js
@@ -351,6 +351,16 @@
       })
     })
 
+    test('empty resp string is passed to callback', function (complete) {
+      ajax({
+          url: '/tests/fixtures/empty.html'
+        , success: function (resp) {
+            ok(resp == '', 'resp object isn\'t empty string')
+            complete()
+          }
+      })
+    })
+
     test('invalid JSON sets error on resp object', function (complete) {
       ajax({
           url: '/tests/fixtures/invalidJSON.json'