# CPAC straw poll results **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 9, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284 "2014-03-09T19:02:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284/21 "2014-03-10T12:09:12Z")
I am not much of a political junkie but why don’t these add up to 100% ? The OP’s numbers - adding in Gov. Christie - makes 85% so are the rest a vote for “none of these” ? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284/22 "2014-03-10T12:25:25Z")
> [@DrumBum](#): > > I am not much of a political junkie but why don’t these add up to 100% ? The OP’s numbers - adding in Gov. Christie - makes 85% so are the rest a vote for “none of these” ? Al Melvin did the tallying and he opposes funny math stuff like “percentages” and “addition”. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284/23 "2014-03-10T13:04:28Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Where’s Christie? We’ll block that bridge when we come to it. The event seems to have been attended mostly by empty chairs. This poll has value only in being something to talk about. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284/24 "2014-03-10T13:05:22Z")
Isn’t “Dr. Ben Carson” a radio soap opera? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284/25 "2014-03-10T13:33:50Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > The event seems to have been attended mostly by empty chairs. The Obamas were there? ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284/26 "2014-03-10T13:40:31Z")
Clint Eastwood, maybe? Anyway, I heard Sarah Palin got the best response and even a standing ovation. Where’s she in the poll? I can’t imagine anyone voting for Ted Cruz. I find him so repellant. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284/27 "2014-03-10T14:37:17Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > Clint Eastwood, maybe? > > Anyway, I heard Sarah Palin got the best response and even a standing ovation. Where’s she in the poll? 2% – see the OP. > [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > I can’t imagine anyone voting for Ted Cruz. I find him so repellant. 11%. But Rand Paul is the favorite. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284/28 "2014-03-10T14:49:04Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > What we’ve learned from this is that 31% of the 21% of the Republicans who make up the ‘base’ prefer Rand Paul. But CPAC itself is a a subset of the ‘base’, so the overall number is probably even lower. > > You’d have made a ton of money over the years if you just bet that the winner of the CPAC poll would not be the Republican nominee. OK, but when you dismiss this poll, what do you have left? Are the GOP insiders/moneymen going to rehabilitate Rubio, who’s spent the past year chasing the wingnuts with a fervor that would embarrass a personal injury lawyer chasing an ambulance? Or do they think that with enough money, they can win primaries with a guy they trust but who’s got only 2-3% support among this crowd, like Paul Ryan or Jeb Bush (assuming Jeb is interested in running)? Because after that, the list - all of it - goes from the level of ‘more or less a joke’ to ‘totally a joke.’ Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, Scott Walker, Ben Carson… Of course, Kevin Drum keeps saying that Rand Paul doesn’t have a chance of winning the GOP nomination. But the ironclad law is, _somebody_ has to win it, and who in the field is going to blow him away in the primaries? ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284/29 "2014-03-10T14:56:04Z")
Actually i am surprised Cruz didn’t win it. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284/30 "2014-03-10T15:11:09Z")
It’s a long way to the GOP nomination. We’ll start seeing the field shape up in January after the mid-term elections. My guess is that the next nominee will be a Republican governor. Perhaps Christie, perhaps someone else. Republicans spent a lot of time making the argument that a one-term Senator does not have the experience required to be an effective President, and Obama has spent the last six years proving that to be correct. And yet, that’s exactly what Rubio, Cruz, and Paul are. Another possibility would be someone big in the private sector, or a military man. If the economy is still stalled out, someone with a strong track record in business could be a viable candidate, or a governor with a track record for economic growth and job creation. I would put Scott Walker and Jeb Bush on that list of potential candidates. If foreign affairs dominate, someone with a strong national security or military background could be viable. Rubio is looking like a lame duck to me. He’s made an awful lot of gaffes and political missteps the short time he’s been in office. Ted Cruz has high negatives with independents and Democrats. I wouldn’t discount Rand Paul, though. He is a much better candidate than his father ever was. Ron Paul always had a ‘crank’ vibe to him, and often had tone-deaf political instincts. Rand is a better politician than his father, and he also has the ability to raise big money and inherited his father’s not-insubstantial grassroots organization. Not only that, but Paul is making efforts to pick up crossover voters and independents, and he’s quite popular with young people. With the right messaging, I think he might be able to steal quite a few votes from disaffected Democrats. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284/31 "2014-03-10T15:22:51Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Republicans spent a lot of time making the argument that a one-term Senator does not have the experience required to be an effective President, and _Obama has spent the last six years proving that to be correct._ Italics mine. You know, you don’t do yourself any favors by tossing in nonsense like that, without any evidence that anyone from LBJ to Jehovah could have done any better. (OK, maybe Jehovah could have visited ten plagues on the GOP unless they relented and voted for his agenda, but short of that…:dubious:\*\*) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284/32 "2014-03-10T15:25:18Z")
Yes, \*please \*have them nominate Scott Walker or Jeb Bush. 🙂 Rand Paul is “quite popular with young people”, you say? Where the fuck do you get \*that \*from? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284/33 "2014-03-10T15:25:44Z")
Let it be noted, for the record, that **Sam** has not once mentioned “Mommy jeans”. This counts in his favor. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284/34 "2014-03-10T15:31:37Z")
As does his not mentioning how well a single term as \*Governor \*prepares one for the Presidency, either. Not that we should have expected that from him. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284/35 "2014-03-10T16:10:48Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Italics mine. > > You know, you don’t do yourself any favors by tossing in nonsense like that, without any evidence that anyone from LBJ to Jehovah could have done any better. (OK, maybe Jehovah could have visited ten plagues on the GOP unless they relented and voted for his agenda, but short of that…:dubious:\*\*) And with the crisis in the Ukraine, we should be **very** glad McCain is not in charge right now. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284/36 "2014-03-10T16:20:48Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Exactly. That list will essentially hand the POTUS to Hillary. That list would hand the POTUS to the late great Pat Paulsen. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284/37 "2014-03-10T16:26:44Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > And with the crisis in the Ukraine, we should be **very** glad McCain is not in charge right now. Not sure if we know what McCain would have done had he won. All we can say for sure is that his mission in life is to verbally pummel Obama at each and every opportunity and to second guess each and every decision and to lay the blame for every world crisis at Obama’s feet. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284/38 "2014-03-10T16:26:50Z")
I was at CPAC in 1995 right after the Republican Revolution. At least back then the whole conference was full of young, college age students who are extremely conservative to say the least. Compared to the people there, I would qualify as a communist. Basically if Thomas Jefferson didn’t spend money on it, the federal government today shouldn’t be spending money on it. There was an afternoon conference on abortion where the debate was whether the party should propose a constitutional amendment outlawing abortion only in cases to save the mother’s life, or only in cases of rape, incest and to save the mother’s life. If one took the latter position, he was considered far worse than Hitler. I spent most of the time waiting for the bar to open and hitting on chicks who weren’t putting out anyways. I enjoyed it and met many of the bigwigs in the GOP at the time (Gingrich, Buchanan, Dole). It was a great experience, but ever since that year, I’ve been stunned that the media actually looks at that straw poll. The voters are the most extreme conservatives one can imagine and they pick their candidates for petty and childish reasons. The media might as well go to Liberty University, do a straw poll, and pretend that it has some relevance. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284/39 "2014-03-10T16:33:42Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > That list would hand the POTUS to the late great Pat Paulsen. They need to up their standards. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284/40 "2014-03-10T16:41:09Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Exactly. That list will essentially hand the POTUS to Hillary. Probably the only high-profile Democrat any of those guys could beat is Lyndon LaRouche, if he counts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpac-straw-poll-results/683284.md?page=3)