CPAC 2015 Straw Poll: Rand Paul wins again — but Scott Walker is surging
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Mr. Paul’s third straight win was impressive, though his share of the vote dropped from 31 percent in 2014 to 25.7 percent this year.
“You have to say that Rand Paul did what he had to do when he came here. He fired up his passionate supporters who were out in number as they always are, and he maintained equilibrium with them and held them solid,” said Charlie Gerow, a board member of the American Conservative Union, which plays host to CPAC, held this year just outside the beltway in suburban Maryland.
It’s still to be seen whether Mr. Paul can translate popularity among conservative activists into votes next year. His father, then-Rep. Ron Paul, won the straw poll twice in the run-up to the 2012 presidential contest, but struggled to win primaries.
Mr. Walker saw the biggest surge in this year’s poll, rising from sixth place and 7 percent last year to reach 21.4 percent this year. That was nearly twice the 11.5 percent Mr. Cruz garnered — about the same as his showing last year.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has been trying to regain steam after a rough year, came in 10th with just 2.8 percent support, showing a steep dive from his fourth-place 8-percent showing in 2014.
When first and second choice preferences were combined, Mr. Paul and Mr. Walker were even closer, with 41.5 percent of respondents listing Mr. Paul as in their top two, and 40.8 percent listing Mr. Walker. Mr. Cruz and Mr. Carson trailed with little more than half that support.
Karen Reagan, 38, from Raleigh, N.C., praised Mr. Walker’s stand against public labor unions in Wisconsin — a battle that earned him a recall election, which he survived. He has since won a second term, meaning he’s won three elections in swing-state Wisconsin in little more than four years.
“I think he is the most unifying figure that this party has had in a couple of decades,” she said. “This guy set out to do something in Wisconsin and he had 100,000 people screaming at him, terrorizing him and his family.”
“To stand up in the face of that kind of terror and abuse, I am there is just no question where my heart is at,” she said.
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