Former President Donald Trump once again dominated the straw poll at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, with 62 percent of attendees surveyed saying they want him as the 2024 GOP nominee.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who skipped the annual confab that returned this year to suburban D.C., again came in second with 20 percent support.
Trump improved on his performance from last February’s CPAC, where he received 55 percent support, while DeSantis’ support remained stable. He got 21 percent last year when the conference was held in his home state of Florida.
Former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who continues to falsely claim she won her election, was voted the top pick to be Trump’s vice president.
Twenty percent of respondents chose Lake for VP, followed by 14 percent who said DeSantis and 10 percent who said former U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley, who announced she would challenge Trump for the GOP nomination last month.
Former President Donald Trump once again dominated the straw poll at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, with 62 percent of attendees surveyed saying they want him as the 2024 GOP nominee
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis continued to come in second place, this time with 20 percent of the CPAC straw poll vote. DeSantis skipped the conservative conference being held outside of Washington, while Trump will headline Saturday night
Former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who continues to falsely claim she won her election, was voted the top pick to be Trump’s vice president
Just 3 percent of CPAC attendees said they wished to see Haley at the top of the GOP ticket.
Perry Johnson, a businessman and longshot Republican candidate, performed better than Haley in the CPAC straw poll, garnering 5 percent.
When Haley’s name was mentioned as poll results were announced by pollster Jim McLaughlin, the pro-Trump crowd booed.
It’s no surprise Trump was leading the pack – not only is he the de facto leader of the Republican Party but CPAC has become ground zero for the MAGA faithful.
Since Wednesday, a parade of pro-Trump Republicans have taken the stage, including family members Donald Trump Jr., his fiance Kimberly Guilfoyle and Lara Trump, as well as political acolytes like Lake and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Still, Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, another potential GOP hopeful, braved the crowd.
Pompeo got just 1 percent support in the CPAC poll.
Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley braved the very Trump CPAC crowd to deliver a speech Friday. When he name was mentioned during the announcement of the straw poll results, members of the crowd booed
Perry Johnson, a businessman and longshot Republican candidate, performed better than Haley in the CPAC straw poll, garnering 5 percent
Others who will likely get in, including DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence, skipped this year’s gathering.
Former strategist to President George W. Bush Karl Rove applauded DeSantis’ decision to snub CPAC and even went as far as to call the straw poll ‘completely meaningless.’
Attendees were also asked who they believed would be atop the Democratic ticket.
Just 39 percent said they believed it would be Biden, followed by 23 percent who said California Gov. Gavin Newsom would challenge Biden for the nomination and win.
After that, 14 percent of respondents said Michelle Obama – who’s shown no interest in running for president – with just 6 percent saying it would be Vice President Kamala Harris.
CPAC attendees seemingly finally believe Hillary Clinton has retired from politics, with just 3 percent saying they expected her to be the Democratic nominee.
Last year, a whopping 22 percent believed Clinton would usurp Biden and become the 2024 Democratic nominee.