WASHINGTON -- Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas won the Values Voter Summit straw poll for the third straight year, getting the votes of 35 percent of attendees, according to The Hill.
The Washington-based newspaper reported that runner-up Ben Carson got 18 percent of the votes. That margin is significantly wider than last year, when Cruz edged out Carson by just 5 percentage points.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee took third with 14 percent, followed by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio with 13 percent. Real estate magnate Donald Trump finished fifth with 5 percent.
Carson won the event's poll for vice president, his second consecutive win for that category, the paper reported.
Family Research Council Action President Tony Perkins announced the results Saturday afternoon to applause from the conference's attendees. Perkins' group organized the three-day event.
The Hill reported that eight GOP presidential candidates took to the stage in order to make their cases to the audience of religious conservatives -- Cruz, Carson, Trump, Rubio, Huckabee, Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.
At the conference, the Republican Party's conservative wing, pumped up by House Speaker John Boehner's decision to step down, warned the 2016 presidential candidates that defying its wishes will come at their peril.
An emboldened movement signals fresh trouble for White House candidates viewed by some conservatives as insufficiently committed to their cause. Chief among those candidates is former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
Boehner's announcement that he will resign from Congress by the end of October came without warning Friday, nearly four months before voting begins in the presidential primary.
In the crowded hallways of the Values Voter Summit, 60-year-old Alvin Kaddatz said the turmoil on Capitol Hill sends a clear message to the presidential field. "They need to be listening to what the people are saying," said Kaddatz, who sells farm equipment in Hillsboro, Texas. "They need to follow through on their promises. And if they don't, elections have consequences."
In an anti-establishment climate, the leading presidential contenders appear to be complying, for now.
Most support a tea party-backed measure to strip federal dollars from the women's health care provider Planned Parenthood as part of budget negotiations, even if such a move causes a partial government shutdown as early as this week.
Polls show a majority of voters oppose such brinkmanship over the issue. Republicans were largely blamed in 2013 when the government shut down for 16 days in a dispute over funding for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Candidates who have indicated a willingness to risk a shutdown include Trump, Rubio, Cruz, Carson, Huckabee, Jindal, former technology executive Carly Fiorina, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.
All of those in the race have expressed support for stripping money from Planned Parenthood, but only a few want to do that without risking a shutdown. That category includes Bush and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. That does little to help's Bush's standing with conservatives, who are already skeptical of his commitment to their principles.
Bush was a noticeable omission from the Values Voter Summit's speaking program. He cited a scheduling conflict.
Perkins was surprised by Bush's absence.
"He needs to do well with this voting bloc," Perkins said of social conservatives. "Especially where he's at now in the polls. He needs all the help he can get."
Bush's team cited 14 public and private meetings with religious conservative leaders since April, suggesting that his absence from the Values Voter Summit did not signal a lack of commitment to their priorities.
For Arlie Olsen, 64, who raises pigs in Blooming Prairie, Minn., Boehner's departure was "a good omen for where the country may be headed."
Olsen offered a message to the party's 2016 hopefuls: "It is going to be really hard for a candidate to win if they don't have the backing of this group."
Meanwhile, some House Republicans want to delay the election of Boehner's successor as speaker, tentatively set for Thursday.
Rep. Peter Roskam of Illinois, in a letter on Saturday, urged his colleagues not to "launch headfirst into leadership elections." Others have said they want the time to get a clear sense of the policy positions and strategies of the party's leadership hopefuls.
Roskam, mentioned by other members as a possible candidate for the No. 3 party post of majority whip, said in a "Dear Colleague" letter that the Republican Conference should take time to reflect and to talk about "why we're here serving, what we expect of our leaders, and how we plan to accomplish our goals."
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, also favors delaying a vote.
"There is no immediate rush to elect a new Speaker, and this provides all of us an opportunity to weigh the decision carefully," he said in a statement late Friday.
King said he wants to hear from the speaker candidates how they are going to address such issues as Planned Parenthood, the Iran nuclear deal, immigration and the Affordable Care Act.
Information for this article was contributed by Steve Peoples and Jill Colvin of The Associated Press; by Billy House of Bloomberg News; and by staff members of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
A Section on 09/27/2015