Paul performs well in presidential poll

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., performed well in The Federalist Today Presidential Straw Poll released this week on The Federalist website, but not as well as he has done in other straw polls.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, won the straw poll with 26 percent of the vote, followed by Paul with 22 percent and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker with 16 percent, The Federalist said in a post.

But it is unclear if Pauls performance in this and other polls has any real significance when it comes to the real-life race for president, which he still has not yet officially entered.

Paul is no stranger to success in presidential straw polls. He won straw polls at theConservative Political Action Conference in 2013 and 2014, according to The Washington Post.

In the 2014 poll, the Bowling Green Republican bested his 2013 performance by winning 31 percent of the vote compared to 25 percent in 2013.In the 2014 CPAC poll, Cruz came in second place with 11 percent of the vote.

But the poll has not always been a great predictor of election success. GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney did win in 2012, but Pauls father and former Texas representative Ron Paul won in 2010 and 2011, according to The Washington Post.

The Federalist favors a conservative-libertarian candidate rising to the top in the coming Republican presidential nomination process but acknowledges challenges to that idea.

Any such insurgents campaign will be undone by a press that favors Democrats, a bare-knuckles Republican establishment that favors milque-toast candidates, and a bewildered flyover electorate conditioned to favor one flavor-of-the-month insurgent presidential candidate after another, to the detriment of any effective insurgent candidacy, the blog post said.

Some media outlets suggest that foreign relations may be a weak spot for Paul if he seeks his partys presidential nomination.

In its New Years resolutions and suggestions for potential Republican presidential candidates, The Hill suggests that Paul resolve to convince Republicans you can be trusted on foreign policy.

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Paul performs well in presidential poll