Earlier this month, former President Donald J. Trump easily won the 2024 GOP presidential nominee poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
Trump, who has heavily inferred that he will be running in 2024, secured 70% of the ballots cast in the anonymous straw poll.
This is a significant boost from a February straw poll, in which he won 55% of the vote, according to a FOX News report.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was the only other significant player, gaining 21% of the vote at a distant second.
Among 19 other contenders — among them nationally known names such as Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul and former Trump administration member and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — none managed to get more than 1% of the vote from conservatives at the event.
“I want to personally thank each and every one of you for your incredible support,” Trump stated shortly after the results were revealed.
A secondary ballot question also was proposed which removed the option to vote for Trump. This ballot resulted in a landslide victory for DeSantis, who took 68% of the vote.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo came in second at 5%, while Donald Trump Jr. and Sen. Ted Cruz both came third with 4%. No one else on the poll managed to top 3% of the vote.
Trump’s easy victory comes as no surprise to most. Ever since Trump’s 2016 presidential election victory, CPAC visitors have heavily favored the former president.
A strong 88% of 1,525 CPAC attendees that voted in the straw polls stated that they strongly approved of Trump’s work while in the White House, with another 10% of voters somewhat approving.
The straw poll was answered anonymously via an app. It consisted of a 20-question survey that was designed by organizers to understand where the conservative movement’s values lie on many important topics such as border security, cancel culture and critical race theory.
Changing views
The results for this CPAC meeting show a major difference from the CPAC event held in Orlando in February.
In Orlando, DeSantis took first place with 43% support in the poll that did not include Trump in it. This is a major difference from his Dallas showing 68%, a massive increase of support for the Florida Governor and strong Trump supporter in his own right.
Many believe that this is due to DeSantis’ strong defiance to lock-downs, cancel culture and big tech censorship, which seem to be the most pressing issues for conservatives at the moment.
While Trump has repeatedly (and strongly) inferred that he will be running in the 2024 election, that is not confirmed. Some hope for a Trump-DeSantis ticket, and many believe that DeSantis would not run against Trump.
