Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, won laughs and a straw poll at the annual Family Research Council Action's Values Voter Summit, a Christian conservative forum for citizens who want to "preserve the bedrock values of traditional marriage, religious liberty, sanctity of life and limited government".

The Values Voter Summit offers a public platform for conservatives, including politicians, between Sept. 26 and Sept. 28. Cruz addressed attendees about President Barack Obama's lack of leadership and handling of foreign affairs. Cruz also took the opportunity to joke about White House securoty following an incident in which 42-year-old Iraq War Army veteran Omar J. Gonzalez bypassed security and climbed over the fence. Gonzalez was apprehended once he entered the White House. Obama and his family had left the White House minutes before Gonzalez jumped the fence.

"We should insist that ABC, NBC, CBS, they refer to the visitor according to the term that is politically correct, an undocumented White House visitor," said Cruz.

At the Values Voter Summit, attendees of the Washington, D.C. event were eligible to vote in the forum's straw poll. For the second consecutive year, Cruz received the most votes with 25 percent of the nearly 1,900 votes cast. Although he has never held a political office position, Dr. Ben Carson was second with 20 percent of the votes ahead of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's 12 percent.

"Values Voter straw poll reveals that the path forward for the GOP to engage Republican-leaning voters is to put forward true conservative candidates," said Family Research Council Action President Tony Perkins,

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., placed sixth while 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney finished eighth. Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., a potential 2016 presidential candidate, placed 19th. Democrats also placed on the 2014 Values Voter Summit Straw Poll, including Vice President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, finishing 18th and 23th, respectively.

A vice presidential straw poll was also conducted, with a Carson victory at 22 percent while Cruz was second with 14 percent.

Cruz has not earned the support from a nonpartisan coalition of 39 national Latino organizations, referred to as the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda. The NHLA published its congressional scorecard grading the 113th Congress, and based on several criteria and key votes, the coalition gave Cruz 0 percent. The criteria include votes the NHLA publicly voices support for, including economic and immigration legislation and political appointments of five Latino nominees. Cruz was given 0 percent for the three economic votes. He voted against the five Latino nominees and five votes concerning immigration reform.