Rand Paul wins US conservative conference straw poll
US Senator Rand Paul has won the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)'s annual presidential preference straw poll, giving his potential bid for the Republican nomination in 2016 a boost.
Paul, son of former congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul, won 25.7 percent of the votes in the annual survey, giving Paul his third consecutive victory in three years on Saturday, event organizers announced at the National Harbor, Maryland, Confab.
"I am humbled by the enthusiastic support and encouragement I received this week at the Conservative Political Action Conference,” Paul said in a statement.
"The constitutional conservatives of our party have spoken in a loud and clear voice today," said Paul, a 52-year-old Kentucky Republican. “I plan on doing my part and I hope you will join me as I continue to make the GOP a bigger, better and bolder party."
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker came in second, with 21.4 percent, an indication of his increasing popularity among the Republican Party's enthusiastic conservative supporters ahead of the 2016 vote.
Senator Ted Cruz finished third with 11.5 percent, followed by Dr. Ben Carson (pictured below), an author and retired neurosurgeon, with 11.4 percent and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, a favorite of the GOP establishment and donor class, with 8.3 percent.
Carson, an African American, has emerged as a powerful conservative voice in recent years.
More than 3,000 conservative activists voted in the poll between Wednesday and Friday at the three-day CPAC conference in suburban Washington.
A lot of libertarian-leaning college students whose views and priorities differ notably from the Republican Party attended the conference.
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