Donald Trump Wins North Dakota Straw Poll

North Dakota’s Republicans didn’t hold a primary or a caucus this election cycle for reasons that are a little difficult to fathom.

Some in the state party argue that it’s better for our states delegates, selected at the NDGOP’s statewide convention, to participate in the national convention without being bound by a vote to any particular candidate. Others might argue that the state party’s representatives to the national convention should represent some measure of Republican sentiments here.

But whatever. There was no official party vote on presidential candidates in the state.

Into that void North Dakota’s at-large congressman Kevin Cramer held is own unofficial straw poll and released the results today.

“The complexity of the rules and the short timeline imposed on state parties made it difficult for the North Dakota GOP to conduct the traditional caucus in a way that would ensure integrity, so I thought I’d have some fun and conduct my own straw poll,” Cramer said in a release accompanying the results. “Never in my career has a party preference process been this exciting and I wanted North Dakota Republicans to have an opportunity to weigh in with their votes.”

There were 4,740 votes cast in the straw poll which he ran online through his campaign website, and Donald Trump won with Ted Cruz coming in second and Marco Rubio a distant third.

You can see the full list of results to the right.

This is about in line with polling commissioned from DFM Research and conducted around the end of February.

That research also showed Trump winning with 27 percent of the vote. Ted Cruz was at 19 percent and Marco Rubio a much less distant third at 17 percent.

In the release, Cramer seemed to throw his support behind Trump.

“It is clear to me the Trump candidacy is a movement, and I don’t share the panic of many in my party’s leadership,” Cramer said. “Elections are about voters more than they are about political parties. It is time for Republican leaders to help Donald Trump be a successful candidate and then help him be a successful President.”

Here’s Cramer’s full press release: