(Louisville, KY) Kentucky looks to still be a competitive state in the upcoming presidential race if results from the first-ever Office of the Secretary of State State Fair “Straw Poll” are any indication. 1,976 voters cast ballots during the state fair at the Office of the Secretary of State’s booth. New York Senator Hilary Clinton was the overall winner with 349 votes, nearly twice as many as her closest Democratic competitor. On the Republican side, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney earned a victory with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, and former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson trailing close behind. Romney had 242 votes. In actual general elections, Kentucky has picked the winning president since 1964; only Missouri’s current streak of picking the winner since 1960 is longer.
“Our office is extremely excited by the turnout for this ‘straw poll’ in its first year of existence,” remarked Secretary of State Trey Grayson. “Kentucky has always had a tradition of being a bellwether state, and it will be interesting to see whether these early signs of support are indicators of similar favor across the country.”
The final results are as follows:
Total Votes Percentage of Total Vote Percentage of Vote within Party
Republicans:
Mitt Romney- 242 12.2% 21.2%
Rudy Giuliani- 216 10.9% 18.9%
Mike Huckabee- 208 10.5% 18.2%
Fred Thompson- 196 9.9% 17.2%
John McCain- 108 5.5% 9.5%
Ron Paul- 78 3.9% 6.8%
Sam Brownback- 51 2.6% 4.5%
Duncan Hunter- 34 1.7% 3.0%
Tom Tancredo- 8 0.4% 0.7%
Democrats:
Hilary Clinton- 349 17.7% 41.8%
Barack Obama- 195 9.9% 23.4%
John Edwards- 183 9.3% 21.9%
Bill Richardson- 31 1.6% 3.7%
Chris Dodd- 25 1.3% 3.0%
Joe Biden- 21 1.1% 2.5%
Dennis Kucinich- 17 0.9% 2.0%
Mike Gravel- 14 0.7% 1.7%
Although the most votes for a single candidate went to Clinton, a Democrat, 1,141 votes (57.7%) were cast for Republican candidates while 835 votes (42.35%) were cast for Democrats. Voters were allowed to vote on one of five voting systems currently in use by one of Kentucky’s counties. They were allowed to vote for any candidate regardless of political affiliation. However, the political affiliation of each candidate was noted on the ballot.
In addition to the straw poll, the office of the Secretary of State conducted a voter registration drive where hundreds of new voters were signed up to participate in the 2007 election cycle which features races for Kentucky’s statewide constitutional officers, most notably for Governor.
The voter registration efforts and ‘straw poll’ were part of a greater initiative directed by Secretary Grayson, the Civic Literacy Initiative of Kentucky (CLIK), which is a multi-year effort to increase the civic literacy and engagement of Kentucky’s citizens. The effort has been recognized as one of the top in the nation for its efforts.
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