Ron Paul Wins CPAC Straw Poll
Which illustrates just how useless the CPAC straw poll is. Paul’s supporters (and Mitt Romney’s supporters) swamp it every year and the results are pretty much worthless.
But what’s interesting is that, beyond Paul and Romney who stuff these polls all the time, there really isn’t anyone else the voters seem interested in.
Here are the results:
Ron Paul: 30 percent
Mitt Romney: 23 percent
Gary Johnson: 6 percent
Chris Christie: 6 percent
Newt Gingrich: 5 percent
Tim Pawlenty: 4 percent
Michele Bachmann: 4 percent
Mitch Daniels: 4 percent
Sarah Palin: 3 percent
Herman Cain: 2 percent
Mike Huckabee: 2 percent
Rick Santorum: 2 percent
John Thune: 2 percent
Jon Huntsman: 1 percent
Haley Barbour: 1 percent
Others: 5 percent
Undecided: 1 percent
Ron Paul and Gary Johnson are such long shots as to be non-entities. Chris Christie has said, repeatedly, that he’s not running and given his anti-gun stance probably couldn’t win the nomination anyway. Mitt Romney supported Obamacare at the state level (Romneycare in Massachusetts) and I can’t see him winning, and Newt Gingrich’s bid is more about selling books than anyone else.
And those candidates take up 70% of the vote.
What the CPAC poll makes clear, if it makes anything clear at all, is that conservatives truly haven’t found their candidate yet.
For what it’s worth, Ann Coulter says the only way Republicans win in 2012 is with Chris Christie. Otherwise, she says, Romney will win the nomination and Republicans will lose.
I don’t know about Christie, his anti-gun stance will make it tough, but I don’t see how Romney offers enough (or really any) ideological contrast with Obama on one of the most dominant issues: health care.
Tags: cpac, election 2012, mitt romney, ron paul


