On Friday, Herman Cain won the Nevada straw poll at the Western Republican Leadership Conference. There were over 550 ballots cast, and Cain finished in first place garnering 31 percent of them. He was trailed closely by Governor Mitt Romney, who received 29 percent of the vote, and Newt Gingrich came in third with 20 percent. The Hill reports:
The top tier of the straw poll also mirrored the trend in the Republican presidential race nationally. Cain and Romney are on equal footing in recent polls, with Cain taking first place in some surveys and Romney topping the charts in others.But Gingrich's third-place finish was a surprising piece of good news for the former House speaker. Gingrich took only 7 percent in an Associated Press/GfK poll released Thursday, putting him in fifth place.
One in ten participants chose Ron Paul, who typically performs well in straw polls, due in part to his ability to mobilize his supporters to turn out for such events. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Rick Santorum each took less than 5 percent of the vote.
Citizen Outreach, a conservative Nevada-based group, conducted the poll over the three days at the Las Vegas hotel where the candidates appeared Tuesday in a CNN debate.
Cain, who has catapulted into the top tier of the GOP race over the past month, had his first major victory in a test vote on Sept. 24 when he pulled off an upset in Florida's P5 straw poll.
Here are the full results:
