Values Voter Summit Straw Poll: Ron Paul Wins
Ron Paul was declared the winner of the Values Voter Summit Straw Poll of 2011. Paul’s ardent supporters, known for showing up at Republican conventions to vocally declare support for their candidate, filled the hotel auditorium Saturday morning.
Paul received 37 percent of the support from those attending the summit.
The runner-ups are as follows:
-Herman Cain with 23 percent
-Rick Santorum with 16 percent
-Rick Perry and Michele Bachman tied with 8 percent
-Mitt Romney with 4 percent
-Newt Gingrich with 3 percent
The Straw Poll also asked attendees to vote on their vice-presidential candidate of choice. In first place was Michele Bachmann. She was followed respectively by Herman Cain, Marco Rubio and Rick Santorum.
All of the major Republican presidential candidates, except Jon Huntsman, spoke at the Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit, which opened on Friday. Over 3,000 participants registered for the three-day event, making this the largest Values Voter Summit ever.
On Saturday, Paul (R-Texas) called war “one of the ... greatest threats to the family."
"It undermines the family,” he told the conservative crowd. He lamented the fact that more than 7,500 military men and women in NATO countries were killed in the conflicts of the past 10 years. He also showed grief for the high number of suicide rates among returning members of the military.
“Peace is far superior to war. That should be our goal,” he said to applause.
