Dr. Ben Carson walked away as the winner of the 2012 Southern Republican Leadership Conference straw poll, besting the second place finisher, Governor Scott Walker by 5 percentage points.
Senator Ted Cruz came in a somewhat distant third place with 16.6 percent of the vote, while the rest of the fields of announced and potential 2016 presidential primary candidates were each only able to garner less than 6 percent of the vote.According to the conference, about 1,500 eligible voters took part in the poll, most of them being from Oklahoma.
“Self-identified social conservatives favored Dr. Carson by a slight plurality with 25% of the vote. Meanwhile, self-identified fiscal conservatives favored Gov. Scott Walker. Voters who believe that national security is the most important issue of this election were evenly split between Dr. Carson and Gov. Scott Walker. Lastly, self-identified tea party voters favored Sen. Ted Cruz by a small plurality.”
| Candidate Name | Vote Percentage |
| Dr. Ben Carson | 25.4% |
| Gov. Scott Walker | 20.5% |
| Sen. Ted Cruz | 16.6% |
| Gov. Chris Christie | 5.3% |
| Gov. Rick Perry | 5.0% |
| Gov. Jeb Bush | 4.9% |
| Sen. Rand Paul | 4.1% |
| Sen. Marco Rubio | 4.1% |
| Gov. Bobby Jindal | 4.1% |
| Carly Fiorina | 2.7% |
| Gov. Mike Huckabee | 2.7% |
| Sen. Rick Santorum | 1.9% |
| Donald Trump | 1.2% |
| Mark Everson | 0.8% |
| Sen. Lindsey Graham | 0.5% |
| Gov. John Kasich | 0.2% |
| Gov. Jim Gilmore | 0.0% |
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SRLC stated this:
“The Southern Republican Leadership Conference was held in Oklahoma City from May 21st – 23rd. The “Energy Capital of America,” the event was one of the most widely attended political events of the year ended with a 2016 Presidential Straw Poll. Thirteen possible Presidential contenders were represented on the main stage of the event, as well as several other governors, congressional leaders and other Republican luminaries.”
