Ted Cruz, Scott Walker Battle to Top Breitbart Primary

Breitbart Primary June Ted Cruz Scott Walker

In June, 55,000 people voted in the Breitbart Primary, and they preferred Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to win the GOP’s 2016 presidential nomination.

In June’s inaugural Breitbart Primary poll, Cruz finished first nationally (33%)–and in each of the first three nominating states–with Walker (23%), who has yet to declare his candidacy, right on his heels. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) finished in third with 10%, followed by Dr. Ben Carson (7%), former Texas Governor Rick Perry (5%), businessman Donald Trump (4%), former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina (4%), and Sen. Marco Rubio (4%).

Voting in the Breitbart Primary will be reset every month, and Breitbart News readers are encouraged to cast their ballots in July’s Breitbart Primary here.

The complete national results for June’s Breitbart Primary are below, and results from Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina follow.

Breitbart Primary June National Results

Since upsetting establishment Republican David Dewhurst in Texas’s Senate primary in 2014, Cruz has aggressively taken on the GOP establishment along with the D.C.’s bipartisan political class. Emphasizing his “bold” brand of conservatism against the “pale pastels” approach favored by establishment Republicans, Cruz has been a thorn in the side of the permanent political class by trying to defund Obamacare and President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Walker, by taking on Wisconsin’s government unions and prevailing in a recall election, showed that conservative policy solutions can translate to electoral success. Though he is expected to announce his candidacy in July, Walker has already shaped the debate when he said that the next president must make “decisions about a legal immigration system that’s based on, first and foremost, on protecting American workers and American wages.” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) has praised Walker for his comments and said that his pro-American worker stance on immigration would be “helpful for the republic.”

The Wisconsin governor, though his political organization has been criticized for hiring operatives who have tried to undermine conservatives in the past, has been touted as a candidate who can unite the grassroots and the establishment wings of the party to successfully take on Hillary Clinton in the general election.

Iowa:

Among Breitbart Primary voters in Iowa, Cruz leads with 36% to Walker’s 20%, but Walker actually received more votes when second- and third-choice votes were considered. Paul came in fourth with 10% while Fiorina was fourth with 8%. Though Perry was the first choice of 6% of Iowans who voted in the Breitbart Primary, he received more total votes (10%) than Paul or Carson.

The last two winners of the Iowa caucus–former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and former Sen. Rick Santorum– barely registered, receiving 1% each.

Iowa’s results for June’s Breitbart Primary are below:

Ted Cruz — 36%
Scott Walker — 20%
Rand Paul — 10%
Carly Fiorina 8%
Rick Perry — 6%
Ben Carson — 5%
Marco Rubio — 3%
Donald Trump — 3%
Mike Huckabee — 2%
John Kasich — 2%
Jeb Bush — 1%
Bobby Jindal — 1%
Rick Santorum — 1%
Mitt Romney — 1%
Chris Christie — 0%
Lindsey Graham — 0%
George Pataki — 0%

New Hampshire:

In New Hampshire, Cruz edges Walker by three points (32%-29%) while Paul is a distant third at 15%. Though Donald Trump placed second, three points behind Jeb Bush, in a recent CNN/WMUR New Hampshire poll, Trump finished with 4% support in the Breitbart Primary, tied with Carson and behind Fiorina (6%). Though New Hampshire may be a “must-win” state for Bush and Christie, both candidates received 0% total support in the state.

But Bush and Christie, along with former New York Governor George Pataki, still received more votes cast than Huckabee and Santorum, showing the uphill battle that social conservatives often face in the Granite State.

New Hampshire’s results are below:

Ted Cruz — 32%
Scott Walker — 29%
Rand Paul — 15%
Carly Fiorina — 6%
Dr. Ben Carson — 4%
Donald Trump — 4%
Rick Perry — 3%
Bobby Jindal — 1%
Marco Rubio — 1%
Mitt Romney — 1%
Jeb Bush– 0%
Chris Christie — 0%
Mike Huckabee — 0%
Rick Santorum — 0%
Lindsey Graham — 0%
George Pataki — 0%
John Kasich — 0%

South Carolina:

In the crucial first-in-the-South primary state of South Carolina, Cruz again edged Walker by four points (29%-25) while Carson finished in third with 10%. Fiorina was third in total votes. Five candidates–Carson, Fiorina, Walker, Rubio, Cruz–received double-digit percentages in third place votes.

South Carolina’s results are below:

Ted Cruz — 29%
Scott Walker — 25%
Ben Carson — 10%
Rand Paul — 8%
Rick Perry — 8%
Donald Trump — 4%
Carly Fiorina — 4%
Marco Rubio — 4%
Mitt Romney — 2%
John Kasich — 2%
Bobby Jindal — 1%
Rick Santorum — 1%
Jeb Bush –1%
Mike Huckabee — 1%
Lindsey Graham — 0%
John Kasich — 0%
George Pataki — 0%

Because the GOP field will winnow and likely leave four or five candidates standing, the second-place preferences of Breitbart Primary voters may reveal which candidates may benefit the most if certain candidates drop out of the race.

For instance, if Carson exits the race, Cruz (24%) would be the top choice of his first-place voters, followed by Walker (20%), and Fiorina (13%). But 7% of Carson’s first-place voters are undecided about whom they would support if Carson is no longer in the race, which is the second highest undecided percentage in the field.

Thirteen percent of Paul’s supporters are undecided about their second choice and 32% are undecided about their second- or third-choice options, which means Paul’s supporters may stay at home if the libertarian-leaning candidate, who has polled the best against Hillary Clinton in hypothetical general election match-ups, is not on the ballot in the general election.

Thirty-one percent of Paul’s supporters, though, would back Cruz if Paul drops out while 15% would back Walker. Thirteen percent of Paul’s supporters would vote for Carson without Paul in the race. In fact, Paul’s supporters are the least likely of the top six candidates to support Walker and the most likely of the top six candidates to support Carson if Paul gets knocked out of the race.

Walker’s supporters seem to be satisfied with alternative options, as he had the lowest number of undecideds when it came to second- and third-choice votes. Thirty percent of Walker’s supporters would back Cruz if Walker drops out while Perry, Rubio, and Fiorina each received more than 10% support. Walker’s voters were also 50% less likely to vote for Paul than the general population.

Cruz’s first-place supporters will not vote for Jeb Bush as their second (0%) or even third choice (0%) under any circumstances. Thirty-nine percent of Cruz’s supporters would back Walker, though, if Cruz drops out, followed by Paul (13%) and Perry (12%).

If Rubio drops out of the race, Walker would by far be the greatest beneficiary, as the Wisconsin governor is the second choice of 40% of Rubio’s supporters, followed by Fiorina (12%) and Cruz (11%). Rubio’s voters do not like Paul, as they are four times less likely to vote for the Kentucky Senator than the general population. Rubio’s supporters are also the most likely to vote for Bush as their second choice. But in a sign that their supporters may actually not overlap that much, that number is only 3%.

If Perry, who may be running in part to rehabilitate his image from his disastrous 2012 bid for the White House, does not gain traction and drops out of the race, 33% of his supporters would back Walker, followed by Cruz (23%) and Fiorina (12%).

Voting in the Breitbart Primary will be reset every month, and Breitbart News readers are encouraged to vote now in July’s Breitbart Primary here.

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