--- title: CPAC: Donald Trump Boasts About Straw Polls He Lost description: President Trump boasted about doing well at a grassroots conservative conference in years past, but he actually lost a straw poll. canonical: https://time.com/4681865/cpac-donald-trump-straw-poll/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-24T16:21:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T07:18:08.510Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Just Boasted About Winning Polls at CPAC. He Lost 6 Times og:description: His best showing was third place in 2016, with just 15% of the vote og:url: https://time.com/4681865/cpac-donald-trump-straw-poll/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt45bec7dc727e9f9d/6988bbcd8e060168f2469548/donald-trump-cpac1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: President Trump Addresses Annual CPAC Event In National Harbor, Maryland og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Just Boasted About Winning Polls at CPAC. He Lost 6 Times twitter:description: His best showing was third place in 2016, with just 15% of the vote twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt45bec7dc727e9f9d/6988bbcd8e060168f2469548/donald-trump-cpac1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Just Boasted About Winning Polls at CPAC. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=d79788f0-bb5e-4a59-841f-3dac63e3d67e&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump Just Boasted About Winning Polls at CPAC [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Just Boasted About Winning Polls at CPAC](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/JkDLpWKV.m3u8) (0:40)  _Published 2017-02-24. President Donald Trump boasted about doing well at a grassroots conservative conference in years past, but he actually lost a straw poll of attendees every single year._ by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Feb 24, 2017 4:21 PM UTC President Donald Trump boasted about doing well at a grassroots conservative conference in years past, but he actually lost a straw poll of attendees every single year. by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Feb 24, 2017 4:21 PM UTC President [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4672974/donald-trump-white-house-chaos/) boasted about doing well at [a grassroots conservative conference](http://time.com/4679396/cpac-donald-trump-conservatives/) in years past, but he actually lost a straw poll of attendees every single year. Speaking at the annual [Conservative Political Action Conference](http://time.com/4681802/donald-trump-cpac-speech-media/) outside Washington, D.C., on Friday, Trump noted that he [had addressed](http://time.com/4681802/donald-trump-cpac-speech-media/) the crowd in [2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015](http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-news/watch/what-will-trump-say-at-cpac-let-s-look-at-his-past-appearances-883826243586). (He notably [skipped the 2016 event](http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/donald-trump-cpac-2016-220263), held in the midst of the Republican primary.) “You know, my first major speech was at CPAC,” Trump said Friday. “I loved it. I loved the people. I loved the commotion. And then they did these polls where I went through the roof and I wasn’t even running.” It wasn’t clear exactly what polls Trump was referring to, but there is a good measure of how well someone did at CPAC: a straw poll of thousands of grassroots attendees held at the end of the event. By that measure, Trump did not go through the roof. In fact, he did poorly in five out of the past six contests, and reached only third place last year with just 15% of the vote. Here’s a look at who won in the straw polls held since Trump’s first appearance at CPAC. [**2011:**](http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2011/02/12/cpac%5F2011%5Fron%5Fpaul%5Fwins%5Fthe%5Fstraw%5Fpoll.html) Then-Rep. Ron Paul won with 30%. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney came in second with 23%. New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie tied for third place with 6%. Trump was not in the top 15. [**2012:**](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/11/romney-wins-washington-timescpac-straw-poll/) Romney won with 38%. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum came in second with 31%. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was third with 15%. [**2013:**](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/16/cpac-straw-poll-results-2013%5Fn%5F2856972.html) Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul won with 25%. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio came in second with 23%. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum came in third with 8%. [**2014:**](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/8/cpac-2014-straw-poll-results/) Rand Paul won with 31%. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz came in second with 11% and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson came in third place with 9%. Trump received just one percent in a seven-way tie for 14th place. [**2015**](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cpac-makes-its-pick-for-2016-in-straw-poll/)**:** Rand Paul won with 25.7%. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker came in second with 21.4%, Cruz came in third place with 11.5%. Trump [came in eighth place](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/28/cpac-2015-see-the-full-straw-poll-results/) with just 3.5%. [**2016:**](http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/ted-cruz-wins-cpac-straw-poll-220301) Cruz won with 40% of the vote. Rubio came in second with 30%. Trump came in third place with 15% ## Transcript If you remember my first major speech, sit down everybody, come on. [ LAUGH ] The dishonest media, they'll say he didn't get a standing ovation. You know why? No, you know why? Because everybody stood and nobody sat. So they will say he never got a standing ovation. Right? But you know my first major speech was at CPAC. 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