Romney Wins Conservative Straw Poll

ABC News ^ | 10/20/07 | Karen Travers

[freespirited]

Mitt Romney won the Family Research Council Values Voters' Summit straw poll in Washington Saturday, barely beating out Mike Huckabee with just 30 more votes.

Romney garnered 1595 votes to Huckabee's 1565 in the poll of conservative activists. Ron Paul was third with 865 and Fred Thompson was fourth with 564 votes. No vote count has been announced for Rudy Giuliani.

Romney spoke at the summit Friday and called for ending the "marriage penalty" and decreasing out-of-wedlock birth.

In a veiled hit at his rival, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and his more liberal positions on gay rights and abortion, Romney said, "We won’t win the White House with only two out of three or one out of three… We’re not going to beat Hillary Clinton by acting like Hillary Clinton."

Romney reiterated his belief that "two parents are the ideal setting for raising a child." On abortion, Romney declared he would be "a pro-life president," acknowledging that he was a "convert to this cause," referencing his 2005 change from an "effectively pro-choice" position to a pro-life stance.

More than 2,000 conservative activists attended the summit and heard from the Republican presidential field over the last two days.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said 5,776 votes were cast in the straw poll by voting in person, online or by mail. Romney's campaign actively petitioned supporters to vote online whether or not they had attended the conference.

The straw poll is non-binding, unscientific, and does not necessarily reflect the social conservative movement as a whole.

The following three questions were on the straw poll ballot:

1. Which of the following candidates for president would you be most likely to vote for?

RESULTS: Romney-1595 Huckabee-1565 Paul-865 Thompson-564

2. Who of the following candidates would be least acceptable to you as President of the United States? (results not yet announced)

3. Please indicate which issue is the most important in determining your opinion of the candidate that you will most likely vote for – choose one: RESULTS: -abortion -defending marriage -tax cuts -permanent tax relief

[freespirited]

Romney's campaign actively petitioned supporters to vote online whether or not they had attended the conference.

Does this mean anyone could vote? If so, you could make an argument that the ballot box was stuffed--and the real winner was Huck.

[inkling]

Romney has to be VERY nervous about Huckabee’s sudden rise, especially in Iowa. Mitt’s entire campaign is predicated on sealing up the religious right and taking the two early states.

[Laverne]

Here are the on-site results for the republicans. Source for these number is here:

http://www.frcaction.org/

Onsite Straw Poll Results

Mike Huckabee 488 51.26%
Mitt Romney 99 10.40%
Fred Thompson 77 8.09%
Tom Tancredo 65 6.83%%
Rudy Giuliani 60 6.30%
Duncan Hunter 54 5.67%
John McCain 30 3.15%
Sam Brownback 26 2.73%
Ron Paul 25 2.63%
Undecided 11 1.16%
Not Voting 7 0.74%

[bethtopaz]

Read more detailed results over at www.race42008.com. Yes, Huck won the on-site vote by a large margin, but he also encouraged his supporters to vote on-line also.

Congratulations to Huckabee!

And Congratulations to my guy, Mitt Romney, who came in second to Huckabee in the on-site voting!

[lesser_satan]

ping

[Spiff]

Which of the following candidates for President
would you most likely to vote for?

Mitt Romney	1595	27.62%
Mike Huckabee	1565	27.15%
Ron Paul	865	14.98%
Fred Thompson	564	9.77%
Undecided	329	5.70%
Sam Brownback	297	5.14%
Duncan Hunter	140	2.42%
Tom Tancredo	133	2.30%
Rudy Giuliani	107	1.85%
John McCain	81	1.40%
Not Voting	67	1.16%
Barack Obama	9	0.16%
Joe Biden	5	0.09%
Hillary Clinton	5	0.09%
John Edwards	4	0.07%
Dennis Kucinich	4	0.07%
Christopher Dodd	2	0.03%
Bill Richardson	2	0.03%
Mike Gravel	1	0.02%
Total	5,775	100%

[Califreak]

These polls are all over the map!

Puck the folls!

Stand on your beliefs when you cast your vote!

[RasterMaster]

http://www.frcblog.com/2007/10/washington_briefing_straw_poll.html

Mitt Romney 1595 27.62%
Mike Huckabee 1565 27.15%
Ron Paul 865 14.98%
Fred Thompson 564 9.77%
Undecided 329 5.70%
Sam Brownback 297 5.14%
Duncan Hunter 140 2.42%

Mike Huckabee 488 51.26%
Mitt Romney 99 10.40%
Fred Thompson 77 8.09%
Tom Tancredo 65 6.83%%
Rudy Giuliani 60 6.30%
Duncan Hunter 54 5.67%

The first chart is total votes (those at the Washington Briefing and those voting online). The second chart is only those attending the WB in person.

[Josh Painter]

Money quote from the story: “The straw poll is non-binding, unscientific, and does not necessarily reflect the social conservative movement as a whole.”

[freespirited]

Well, that does look like a stuffed ballot box to me.

[Columbine]

Mitt Romney 1595 27.62%
Mike Huckabee 1565 27.15%
Ron Paul 865 14.98%
Fred Thompson 564 9.77%
Undecided 329 5.70%

Sam Brownback 297 5.14%
Duncan Hunter 140 2.42%

Mike Huckabee 488 51.26%
Mitt Romney 99 10.40%
Fred Thompson 77 8.09%
Tom Tancredo 65 6.83%%
Rudy Giuliani 60 6.30%
Duncan Hunter 54 5.67%

The first chart is total votes (those at the Washington Briefing and those voting online). The second chart is only those attending the WB in person.

This is a good demonstration of why online polls aren't reliable. Looks like both the Romney camp and the Paul camp were voting a lot more heavily online than in person.

[ellery]

Yeah, it looks like Huck won very decisively.

[Soul Seeker]

It was.

Romney was reportedly working to do so days before this event. No shocker there, he’s done the same thing at every other straw poll. And Huckabee needs to claim traction in order to justify people supporting him enough to move up in the race, he probably put everything he had into getting voters lined up. though I find it interesting romney didn’t bus more people into the event to vote on site.

I find these last four more interesting because I don’t believe any of them worked overwhelming to gin up votes here.

Fred Thompson 77 8.09%
Tom Tancredo 65 6.83%%
Rudy Giuliani 60 6.30%
Duncan Hunter 54 5.67%

Tancredo beat Rudy? LOL Guess his speech didn’t build enough bridges...

[Always Right]

Slightly better than an internet poll.

[ellery]

I think the onsite poll is the one that gives us an idea about where this particular value organization stands. It appears that Huck smoked everyone.

Still to be determined: how much the leadership and activists of this and other values organizations reflect evangelicals as a whole.

[Columbine]

Yes, I agree.

[Josh Painter]

Notice that Brownback got 297 votes after dropping out of the race. Looks like some Brownbackers didn’t hear the news?

[redgirlinabluestate]

I guess some “Values Voters” are not as concerned with open borders and illegal immigration as the rest of us if they find Huckabee, who is weak on immigration, acceptable. Personally, I think it is extremely hard for us to be able to strenghten our families, our schools and our country if we cannot control our borders.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth begin, LOL.

[freespirited]

I thought Tancredo’s speech was quite good—except that he was a little too angry. Otherwise I thought he was a lot better than freepers give him credit for—perhaps you see that I wasn’t alone in these numbers.