2016 Straw Poll: Final Results

The final round of our 2016 Republican Presidential Straw Poll has ended.  In all three rounds combined, over 3,100 votes were cast and 20+ candidates were eliminated as each new round narrowed the field.  Here are the final results:

As we've been doing at the end of each round, here are a few key takeaways from this round:

Write-ins are always interesting.  In Round 3, we had 5 write-ins for Trey Gowdy, 5 write-ins for Donald Trump, 3 for Carly Fiorina, 2 for Jeb Bush, 2 for Sarah Palin, 2 for John Kasich, 2 for Mitt Romney, and 2 for Joel Grewe.  Allen West, Tom Cotton, Mike Pence, Alan Keyes, Susana Martinez, Ron Paul and former Congressman Dave Weldon each scored one write-in vote, as did Robert Macleod Jr., Celina Evans, Yvonne Simpson, Webster Barnaby, and "None of Them."

Ben Carson's base is organized and excited.  Ben Carson did pretty well in previous rounds -- 5th place in Round 1 and 3rd place in Round 2 -- but his supporters really showed up for this round.  Carson won with a 7%+ lead over Cruz and Walker, who tied for second place.  Notably, Mike Huckabee did pretty well in this round, with a late boost pushing him up to 4th place and close to 12% of votes cast.

About the poll:  This is a non-scientific straw poll.  Each participant could choose up to five candidates.  In Round 1, there were just over 30 candidates and the bottom 33% were dropped.  In Round 2, there were twenty candidates and the top 10 advanced to Round 3.