Cruz's polling numbers haven't fared quite as well nationwide. Cruz wins Values Voter straw poll

Sen. Ted Cruz won the Values Voter Summit’s presidential straw poll on Saturday with a plurality of votes against big-name conservatives in the mix for 2016.

The Texas senator pulled in 42 percent of the votes cast at the annual conference for social conservatives. In second place with 13 percent was Dr. Ben Carson, the conservative commentator and neurosurgeon who drew widespread media coverage for comparing Obamacare to slavery in his speech at the summit.


Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum nearly tied Carson. Sen. Rand Paul, Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Paul Ryan trailed Santorum, each pulling in single-digit percentages in the poll.

Cruz bolstered his credentials with the Republican Party’s far-right wing after his 21-hour speech on the Senate floor calling to defund Obamacare. Cruz continued that theme in his speech at the Values Voter Summit on Friday. When hecklers interrupted Cruz’s speech, he called them “Obama’s paid political operatives.”

Outside of the summit, Cruz’s polling numbers aren’t quite as positive. A Gallup poll released Thursday shows Cruz’s name recognition has jumped 20 percentage points since June, but his unfavorability numbers jumped 18 points—to 36 percent—in the same time frame.

Speakers at the convention included Paul, Rubio, Ryan, Santorum, Glenn Beck, Jim DeMint, Mike Huckabee, E.W. Jackson, Mark Levin, Sen. Tim Scott and Allen West.