Rand Paul, the pro-life Republican senator from Kentucky finished in first place in the weekend star poll held at CPAC, a national conference for conservative activists. Ted Cruz finished in second place.
The CPAC conference is often dominated by conservatives with more libertarian viewpoints as well as college students and young adults who tend to, unlike most Republican voters, favor firebrands like Paul over potential 2016 presidential candidates like governors Chris Christie, Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal or Scott Walker.
Cruz, Paul’s pro-life colleague int he Senate who represents Texas, came in second place. All of the potential 2016 presidential candidates in the upper echelon of the CPAC straw poll results are pro-life.
Paul won 31 percent the annual straw poll taken at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Cruz won 11 percent and conservative neurosurgeon Ben Carson with 9 percent.
After the vote, Paul said: “I am grateful to all the attendees who stood with me. The fight for liberty continues, and we must continue to stand up and say: We’re free and no one, no matter how well-intentioned, will take our freedoms from us. Together we will stand up for the Constitution. Together we will fight for what is right. Thank and onwards to victory.”
AP has more on the results:
CLICK LIKE IF YOU’RE PRO-LIFE!
The straw poll was announced at the end of a three-day conference that typically draws many young conservatives. Organizers said one in two of the 2,459 people who participated in the poll were between 18 and 25 years old.
Paul was one of four potential Republican presidential candidates to address the annual conference on Friday, along with Texas Governor Rick Perry, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio trailed this year with 6 percent of the vote, behind New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s 8 percent, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s 7 percent and Santorum’s 7 percent.
Meanwhile, the Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF) also conducted its own survey. Ted Cruz won that straw poll by a decisive margin:
The Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF) released the results of its 2016 presidential straw poll today. SCF conducted an online poll for its members who could not attend the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, DC today.The top three vote winners were U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) with 42%, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) with 17%, and Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) with 10%. Over 41,000 ballots were cast nationwide.
“The results of the SCF presidential straw poll are unique because they reflect the views of a large group of conservatives across the country,” said SCF Executive Director Matt Hoskins. “Our poll shows that Ted Cruz is currently the conservative favorite for president in 2016.”
