
President Donald Trump and Governor Ron DeSantis combined to pick up 93% of the votes in the highly regarded CPAC Straw Poll this weekend. The polls is a great indicator of where the base of the Republican Party is headed with its choices. The NY Post reports:
Former President Donald Trump handily won the Conservative Political Action Conference’s 2024 straw poll, indicating he remains the first choice of Republican activists for the party’s presidential nomination.
The final numbers, released Saturday at the conference in Dallas, showed Trump out in front with 69% support.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came in a distant second with 24%, while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) followed in third with 2% — a dozen other candidates including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Florida Sen. Rick Scott all received 1% or less.
A whopping 99% of conference attendees said they approved of Trump’s job as president.
DeSantis — who did not attend the conservative confab in Dallas — was the odds-on favorite among CPAC attendees should Trump decline to seek the nomination, with a large plurality of attendees also saying he would be the best choice to serve as a potential vice president for Trump.
Much of the coverage of the CPAC poll is focused on pitting DeSantis against Trump, but what is being left out of the analysis is just how few Republicans are interested in going back to the neocon-led days of the past. Only one candidate associated with the more aggressive establishment wing of the GOP, Nikki Haley was able to conjure up 1% of the vote. All others, including Liz Cheney, received few or no votes (none in Cheney’s case).
Action Line: Keep watching what’s happening in the race for the GOP nomination. I’ll be watching too. Click here to sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter and we’ll keep our eyes on the race together.