The CPAC straw poll captures headlines last week, because of its reputation for anointing the “conservative choice” for a presidential candidate. But beneath the headlines are other questions that reveal a continuing trend toward the Tea-Party’s fiscal conservatism as the most pressing issues facing the country today.

This year’s poll was won by Ron Paul for the second time in a row and many of the shifts in response might have been caused because many social conservative organizations chose to boycott this year’s CPAC due to the inclusion of GOProud.

Despite that this year’s poll had the greatest number of responses aver and the results still offer one of the best opportunities to sample the views of the younger generation in the Conservative movement – almost 50% of respondents to this year’s poll were age 18-25. 3,700 of the registrants filled out ballots to vote in the poll, expressing their opinions on subjects from their core beliefs to the effectiveness of Republicans in Congress. More of the respondents were interested individuals, accounting for a drop in the number of students.