Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain won the Western Conservative Summit 2011 Denver Presidential Straw Poll Sunday, 35 points ahead of second-place finisher Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has yet to announce a bid for the White House.
Cain, the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza and radio host, received 48% followed by Perry with 13%; former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania with 10% and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann with 9%. Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, who has said he will decide about a 2012 bid by September, received 4%. The other declared and non-declared candidates garnered fewer than 4% support.
Perry, Santorum, Cain and Bolton all spoke at the summit.
508 ballots were cast at the three-day conference organized by the Centennial Institute at the Colorado Christian University, which works toward public awareness of faith, family and freedom.
Event organizer John Andrews said the Denver Straw poll is the "first test of 2012 presidential preferences among grassroots activists in Colorado and the Western states."
On his Twitter account, Cain said he was "honored" to learn of his win.
