Texas Sen. Ted Cruz won the presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., according to results released Saturday evening.
The Tea Party-aligned senator picked up support from more than 40 percent of conference attendees. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio took a comfortable second place with 30 percent, knocking longtime GOP front-runner Donald Trump down to third place with 15 percent. Ohio Gov. John Kasich rounded up the results with 8 percent.
Nearly 2,700 activists participated in the poll with the average age around 35 years old.
Trump’s low polling numbers may be the result of having skipped the conference. The self-funded billionaire’s campaign announced Friday it would not attend the conservative event due to its need to reach voters in Kansas and Florida before the Jayhawk State voters headed to the primary Saturday.
In addition, a number of CPAC speakers, including RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and the other GOP presidential candidates bashed Trump’s principles in speeches made before thousands.
Trump is ranked first in the Washington Examiner’s presidential power rankings. Cruz, Rubio and Kasich are positioned behind him, respectively.
