(CNN) - One day after delivering a forceful campaign-style speech to the conference of conservative activists, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won his third straight CPAC Straw Poll on Saturday, earning 20 percent of the vote on a ballot that included nine other Republicans who could seek the party’s presidential nomination in 2012.
Romney’s straw poll win at the 2007 Conservative Political Action Conference helped to elevate Romney from a little-known governor to a bona fide presidential frontrunner, and his narrow victory in last year’s straw poll reaffirmed his support among conservative voters. But Romney failed to win the Republican nomination, which was eventually won by Arizona Sen. John McCain.
In the 2009 poll, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal came in second with 14 percent of the vote, while Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Texas Rep. Ron Paul tied at 13 percent. Jindal and Palin did not attend the conference.
Rounding out the straw poll results were former House speaker Newt Gingrich at 10 percent, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at seven percent, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford at four percent, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani at three percent, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty at two percent, and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist at one percent. Nine percent of poll participants were undecided.
The straw poll was conducted over two days and surveyed 1,757 of the party activists who descended on Washington for the annual conference. More than half of the conference attendees this year were college students, and nearly 60 percent of the straw poll participants were between the ages of 18 and 25.
From CNN Politics
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ROMNEY-PALIN 2012!!!
lol lol lol ....I can't stop laughing!
NONE of these people will ever be president!!!
And you can take that to the bank. LOL
This is it!!!!!!!! What a mess the Republican Party has become.
The Republican party is amost extinct. .....hopefully.
Are you kidding me? This is it? Democrats have nothing to fear.
This is pathetic.
Mitt is very arrogant but at least he is intelligent!!
Ron Paul is the best choice of them all
Now that's funny right there!
Just plain sad.
I've been watching Rush Limbaugh on CNN for what feels like hours and he hasn't said anything except that he wasn't pompous and arrogant while kidding about God pretending to be Rush Limbaugh.
If this list stands, I smell a historical Democratic landslide.
Why do we fear terrorists when we have the GOP?
One has to wonder if he wears his protective underwear under that suit.
And people think Tom Cruise is bad...
Moron.
Huckabee for Prez, Romney for Vice....
Although at this point ANYONE else would be nice...
This is indicative of the abysmal state of the Republican party !
Sarah got Third? I'll bet her panties are in a bunch!
cnn you all look like moron airing rush who keep on saying fox fox like its the only station thats makes you cnn look even more stupid. u dont give somebody a flatform if he dont want any.
First place in the collection of crooks and extremists. Congratulations.
With candidates like Romney, Jindal, et al, I guess I'll just stay home next election day and let the country continue to "Socialize".
I am not surprised by the poll results...as I sit here and watch Rush address this audience I am amazaed at his disrespect for the President, regardless of his differance on issues. I actually agree with many conservative ideals, especially when it comes to the role of Welfare and abuse of that system. However, I find it strange that conservatives or republicans, who have controlled the Government for over 50 of the last 100 years have done very little themselves to reform this system..I believe it was Bill Clinton who made great strides in Welfare reform...not a conservative. This attitude and mockery will not win those of us over that are in the middle. All I have gained from Rush is mockery and hatred and disrespect.
I, too, want Obama to fail . . . in his bid to destroy our capitolsim-based republic.
I would've voted for him had he made it through the primaries. I think he was the right guy to sort out the problems in our economy.
The big tent of the Republican party is coming apart at the seams.
I don't know a single fundamentalist Christian who would vote for Romney in a primary or caucus. Just like 2008.