Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul

MACKINAC ISLAND – Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul won the presidential straw poll at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference this weekend, receiving 22 percent of the vote among the field of 16 candidates.

Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett-Packard CEO, captured 15 percent of the vote to take second. Ohio Gov. John Kasich was third with 13.8 percent, followed by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who came in fourth with 13 percent in The Detroit News/Michigan Information & Research Service presidential straw poll.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush finished fifth with support from 9.7 percent of the 785 registered conference attendees who voted.

Though Paul does not hold a top spot in national polls, his campaign viewed his straw poll victory as a sign of the potential in the senator’s presidential bid.

“This is an organization test that indicates that (Paul) will over-perform in other organizational contests such as Iowa, Nevada, Minnesota and other caucus states that come before the March 8 Michigan primary,” John Yob, Paul’s national political director and a Grand Rapids-based GOP consultant, told The Detroit News.

Maya Berry, the executive director of The Arab American Institute, predicted that Paul will get nonpartisan Arab Americans’ support because of his libertarian leanings.

Berry told The Arab American News two months ago that a third of Arab voters tend to back a candidate, not a political party.

Paul said winning the straw poll was an honor, “as it is voted on by the most influential Michigan GOP members, grassroots leaders and party activists from throughout the country…” The Detroit News reported.

The top five presidential candidates in the straw poll each campaigned on Mackinac Island Friday and Saturday, where 2,200 Michigan Republicans attended the state party’s 31st biennial leadership conference.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and billionaire Donald Trump skipped the conference. They trailed behind Bush with 8.4 percent and 6.8 percent, respectively. Neurosurgeon and Detroit native Dr. Ben Carson, who also did not attend the conference, finished eighth with 5.5 percent.

Fiorina captured 30.5 percent of the vote for vice president from GOP leaders, activists and donors who attended the two-day convention. Rubio finished second in the hypothetical, vice-presidential voting with 17 percent, followed by Kasich who earned 9.7 percent.