Rand Paul wins 2015 CPAC straw poll

I could have recycled this headline from 2013 and 2014, when Rand Paul also won the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) straw poll with similar margins. Though his support is down six points from 2014, he still commands quite a presence at the annual event which has been won by someone with the last name of “Paul” five out of the last six years.

The final results for 2015:

25.7% – Rand Paul
21.4% – Scott Walker
11.5% – Ted Cruz
11.4% – Ben Carson
8.3% – Jeb Bush

Report from Yahoo News:

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has won the Conservative Political Action Conference’s annual presidential preference straw poll.

Pollsters announced Saturday that Paul won 25.7 percent of the votes in the annual survey, giving Paul his third consecutive win in as many years.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker came in second, with 21.4 percent. Sen. Ted Cruz came in third in the contest with 11.5 percent, followed by retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson with 11.4 percent and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush with 8.3 percent. All of the other names listed received under 5 percent.

The three-day CPAC conference in suburban Washington draws many libertarian-leaning college students whose views and priorities differ significantly from the Republican Party at large. But it is nonetheless seen as a barometer of certain conservative activists’ early leanings.

Pollsters said just over 3,000 attendees voted. Nearly half identified as between the ages of 18 and 25.

Respondents said economic issues, like jobs and taxes, were most important to them in deciding whom to support as the Republican nominee for president in 2016.

Interesting to note is that Mitt Romney won in 2012, the year he went on to become the nominee. Rand has won ’13, ’14, and now ’15. The question will be who wins a year from now. Scott Walker had a strong showing in second place, only a few points behind Paul which I’d assume most candidates take as a victory in and of itself.

Jeb Bush garnering about 8% is a little higher than I expected but this isn’t the voting block he’s playing to so maybe that’s a good result for him. He knows he’s not going to win a big chunk of conservative/libertarian vote, but he showed up to compete for it and make his case.