Straw polls don’t usually yield a lot of useful information. Like straw men, they are constructs often intended to distract; they are not scientific surveys, the sample size generally isn’t statistically valid, and so on.
But sometimes they can reveal a trend. At CPAC 2025, one of the events was the CPAC straw poll, the results of which were released on the last day. The poll asked, among other things, who the attendees favored for the Republican 2028 presidential nomination. This poll is interesting because of the respondents; CPAC attendees are conservative activists, committed, involved, and informed, and they represent probably the most likely cohort of people to vote in Republican primaries and in general elections.
The CPAC 2025 straw poll for the 2028 presidential election was a blowout. The overwhelming favorite: Vice President JD Vance.
Sixty-one…
