Bob McCarty Writes

Mitt Romney

Getting 20 percent of the vote, Mitt Romney finished atop the Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll of potential conservative candidates for the 2012 presidential race. It marks the third time the former Massachusetts governor has finished atop the CPAC straw poll.

Finishing behind Romney were Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-La.), Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska).  Coming in last in a large field was Gov. Charlie Crist (R-Fla.).

Announced by Tony Fabrizio this afternoon at 3:30 p.m. Eastern, the poll attracted a record 1,757 participants, all of whom were registered attendees at this weekend’s CPAC conference.

They represented 48 states and, notably, six in ten respondents were between 18 and 25 years of age and six in ten were male.  Seventy-four percent of respondents believed that promoting individual freedom, reducing the size and scope of government and limiting its intrusion in the lives of citizens was the most important ideal to them.

Most importantly, 80 percent of respondents strongly disapproved of the performance, thusfar, of President Barack Obama and only 53 percent somewhat approved of the performance of Republicans in Congress.

Finishing atop the list of favorite conservative media personalities was Rush Limbaugh, followed closely by Fox News radio and television host Glenn Beck.

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UPDATE 2/28/09 at 4:51 p.m. Central: Click here to see PowerPoint presentation related to the 2012 presidential straw poll