Former President Trump easily won the Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll for the 2024 presidential election.
Trump received the support of 70 percent of attendees at CPAC in Dallas, Texas, in the informal poll. Florida governor Ron DeSantis was backed by 21 percent, with all other potential receiving less than 1 percent.
The result represents an improvement for Trump from CPAC’s February poll in Orlando, Fla. In that survey, 55 percent of attendees said they would support Trump for president in 2024, again followed by DeSantis with 21 percent and with no other candidate receiving more than 5 percent.
When asked who they would support in 2024 if Trump decides not to run, 68 percent of attendees at Dallas chose DeSantis. No other candidate topped 5 percent support in a contest without Trump.
The CPAC polls are generally poor indicators of future presidential contests; Kentucky senator Rand Paul won the poll in 2014, 2015, and 2016, while Utah senator Mitt Romney won the poll four times in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2012.
CPAC attendees have generally demonstrated broad support for Trump since his win in 2016. In a speech to close out the conference in Dallas on Sunday, Trump once again insinuated that the 2020 election was stolen by Democrats.
“We were doing so well until the rigged election came along,” Trump told attendees.
“You say election fraud, you get cancelled,” Trump added. “Unfortunately this was an election where the person that counts the vote was far more important than the candidate.”
Source: National Review
