Posted on 09/26/2015 12:46:25 PM PDT by Isara
Sen. Ted Cruz won the Values Voter Summit straw poll for the third year in a row on Saturday, a strong showing of support from evangelical voters for his 2016 presidential bid.
The firebrand Texas Senator won a whopping 35 percent of the poll of summit-goers, ahead of runner-up Ben Carson’s 18 percent. That margin is significantly wider than last year, where he edged out Carson by just 5 percentage points.
Former Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee (Ark.) took third with 14 percent, followed by Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) with 13 percent. Real estate magnate Donald Trump finished a distant fifth with 5 percent.
Carson won the event’s poll for vice president.
Family Research Council Action president Tony Perkins announced the results Saturday afternoon to applause from the conference’s attendees. Perkins’ group organized the three-day event.
Eight GOP presidential candidates took to the summit stage in order to make their case to the religious conservative audience—Cruz, Carson, Trump, Rubio, Huckabee, as well as Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Rand Paul (Ky.), and Gov. Bobby Jindal (La.).
The Values Voter Summit is Cruz country—he’s won the last two straw polls and several conference-goers mentioned his name first as the person they trust most on issues important to social conservatives when interviewed by The Hill during the event.
William Temple, a 65-year-old pastor from Brunswick, Ga., attended the conference dressed as Button Gwinnett, a Georgia signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Describing himself as a leader of the Tea Party’s 2009 “March on Washington,” Temple wore a black Tricorn hat and held a yellow Revolutionary flag embellished with the motto “Don’t Tread On Me.” He said that the signatures printed on his flag were collected at past events from “Tea Party heroes” including Ted Cruz, Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann.
Cruz is Temple’s favorite for the 2016 presidential race because the Texas senator is “right on every Constitutional issue.” Temple said of all the Republican candidates Cruz was “in the best place with evangelicals.”
Matt Schlapp, the president of the American Conservative Union, told The Hill on Friday before the straw poll that he wouldn't be surprised if Cruz won, praising his performance.
"Sen. Cruz continues to just understand these audiences. He connects well with these primary voters and he really doesn't misstep," he said.
"Every time I see him address these audiences across the country, he's very surefooted and I think he's just going to gain in popularity with these voters."
A number of other candidates received strong marks from conference goers, including Mike Huckabee, who won the 2008 Iowa caucuses.
Social conservatives said they trust Jindal and Santorum, but none of the latter three are gaining traction in the GOP presidential race.
Ben Carson received warm support, but many still are not familiar with the retired neurosurgeon say it’s yet to be seen whether he will be as strong on social issues as Cruz or Huckabee.
While recent polls have shown Donald Trump leading with evangelical voters as well as across the board, he placed well outside of the top-tier. Trump gave an extremely well-attended speech on Friday, but some conference-goers mocked him for seeking to appeal to the Christian base by bringing the Bible that he said his mother gave him as a child.
“That was offensive,” said Todd Dexter, a fundraiser for nonprofit groups in Texas. “Have you opened it? That’s what everyone around me was asking."
Dexter though praised Cruz. "He didn’t all of a sudden become conservative just because he’s running for office.”
A handful of candidates didn't attend the summit—Jeb Bush, Govs. Chris Christie (N.J.), John Kasich (Ohio) and Carly Fiorina.
Bush, seen initially as one of the party's favorites for the nomination, received just seven votes in the straw poll.
"It would help him if he would actually show up and talk to values voters," Perkins said during a press conference after the event.
Christie and Graham did worse than Bush, both were tied with four votes.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) the progressive senator running for the Democratic nomination, received five votes.
so much for the tumpsters who insisted the “boos” were at Rubio and not at Trump. I think the straw poll kind of turns the lights onto that fabrication.
Time for the Cruz surge. Time to put Cruz in control!
My Favorie Donnie.... quote...thus far
“”I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t.””
some values..... especially when you consider he claims....to BE a Christian!
zeo percent support from these quarters
Freegards
Of course they didn't.
They would have been politely and coolly received.
Good one: my favorite quote, when asked recently about the 2008 crash and Fannie and Freddie, etc - said “it’s Bush’s fault, I don’t think the Democrats would have done that.”
My second is the oohing and aahing about universal care in Scotland and Canada and how wonderful it would have been here just 15 years ago...but not now for some unknown reason.
A virtual Reagan clone we have here....
Perhaps.
Don’t forget 87% didn’t vote for Rubio. Were we hearing a resounding 13%, or a more subdued 87%?
This group kind of outed themselves giving Rubio 8% more than Trump based on their immigration stances.
I don’t see Rubio has a viable candidate.
Good for Cruz. Wouldn’t it be nice if that’s how he showed up in every poll.
That he doesn’t sadly reflects the relevance of this poll.
It’s not about Rubio....I much prefer Trump to Rubio, but this particular crowd does not.....and anyway, I was not addressing Trump or Rubio...I was addressing the Trumpanzees who insisted this was a pro Trump anti-Rubio boo. That is simply not what happened....not at all. And by Trumpanzees, I mean the see no evil hear no evil admit no evil crowd....not the reasonable Trump supporter.
A reasonable Trump supporter would admit this was a mistake. I don’t know what’s up with this sudden 100% black or white love or hate every candidate every day -
| Ted Cruz | 35% |
| Ben Carson | 18% |
| Mike Huckabee | 14% |
| Marco Rubio | 13% |
| Donald Trump | 5% |
Guess they didn’t buy the Bible-waving.
If Trump mentioned Hillary and people booed, would that also be booing against Trump?
Look, nobody agrees with Rubio on immigration. That’s our number one issue. 87% of the attendees don’t agree with Rubio. You can’t admit that some or most of hose boos were against Rubio, not Trump? Fine. Many of us are going to disagree with you.
As for Trumpanzees, you folks are really making a name for yourselves. I’d rather not go the TDS route, but more and more some of you have crossed over into that territory.
Precisely. Anyone who thought the Values Voters audience was booing Rubio when Trump made the "clown" insult--well, that's just denying reality of what happened. Trump was NOT well received by this audience of social conservatives.
In light of this comment, “I much prefer Trump to Rubio...” I need to back off that TDS comment, but I don’t think Trumpanzees is reasoned either.
A harbinger of things to come— the real vote that the uninformed “registered voter” polls don’t register.
Now, CC and Isara, sing along:
Hi-de-ho, hi-de hi,
Gonna get me a piece of the sky.
Gonna get me some of that ol’ sweet roll,
Singing hi-de-hi-de-hi-de..... hooooooo.
I do the same as Trump. God is the watchful eye. I have a conscience....and I’ll take care of my error.
Oh it’s meant to needle......and it’s reasonable in that I distinguish between that species and other Trump supporters.
BTW, I don’t consider you one of those. And frankly, it’s also meant to be ironic when Trump followers complain about anyone else’s tone. Get it....he calls Rubio a clown and that’s okay - says Carly is ugly and that’s okay - I say Trumpanzee and suddenly that’s NOT okay.
Dude, I’m not asking for your vote to be the most powerful man in the free world. Why am I held to HIGHER standards than your man?
Irrelevant question...that’s not what happened. How about dealing with reality instead of your projected fantasy.
But to answer your irrelevant and foolish question, which I will with outstanding logic and balance - if this had been a Trump rally - then boos towards ANYONE would have been in support of what Trump said about them. But that’s not what this was. And the boos were definitely at Trump, proven by the fact that Rubio trounced him in this poll.
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