Kentucky Senator Rand Paul walked away with the CPAC presidential straw poll, receiving nearly one third of the vote.
In second place was Senator Ted Cruz with 11%, followed by the popular neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson with 9%.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker rounded out the top five with 8% and 7% respectively.
The full vote went as follows:
The poll, which is not a scientific sample by any stretch of the imagination, was dominated by the 18-25 year old age group, which represented 46% of the polling sample.
The next closest age group was the 26-40 year olds, who made up just 18% of the vote.
The straw poll, conducted by the Washington Times and CPAC, addressed a number of additional issues including Marijuana legalization, NSA domestic intelligence gathering, and Republican Congressional approval ratings.
The Kentucky Senator’s showing indicates the “Paul” popularity among young people remains strong, and it’s not all that surprising Cruz came in a solid second, given his popularity with the conservative faction of the Republican party.
Governor Christie’s respectable 4th place showing at the conservative dominated event did stick out to me, however.
Of course, these straw polls are always just for fun, and 2016 is a long way off. That said, it is interesting to see how the potential contenders stack up according to the conference attendees.
The full poll can be found here.
Related: Senator Rand Paul speaks at #CPAC2014
(Featured image: FOX News/Hannity show video)
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