ORLANDO, Fla. – Former President Donald Trump, in results announced on Sunday, won the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) annual vote with 55% of respondents saying they would vote for him if the 2024 Republican Party primaries were today.
Trump got 55% of the vote in the poll he was included in, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in second place with 21%.
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Notably, CPAC is being carried out in Orlando, Florida, in 2021 due to restrictions on the coronavirus. Just before researcher Jim McLaughlin announced the results of the research, the ballroom burst into applause, approving the decision to keep the CPAC in Florida.
CPAC also took a vote without Trump. DeSantis won the poll with 43% of the vote, followed by South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem with 11% and Donald Trump Jr. with 8%.
President Donald Trump holds the face mask while on the Blue Room Balcony when he returns to the White House on Monday, October 5, 2020 in Washington, after leaving Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. (AP Photo / Alex Brandon)
Trump’s approval rating in the straw poll was 97%, with 87% saying they strongly approve of Trump’s job as president. And 68% of people at CPAC in the straw poll said Trump should run for president again.
Opinion polling is not a scientific poll. The CPAC sold itself as a pro-Trump meeting ahead of time, so the self-selected crowd is likely to be more pro-Trump than the Republican Party in general. There was even a golden statue, which many compared to an idol, of the former president.
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American Conservative Union President Matt Schlapp also said in an interview with Fox News last week that any Republican who wants to win the Republican Party nomination in 2024 needs to be closely aligned with Trump.
“Look, you’re not going to get the Republican nomination by being a never-Trumper,” said Schlapp. “You are not going to get the Republican nomination if you are not a strong conservative. So, all this kind of procession, it is appropriate to start at CPAC. “
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Republicans who have been very critical of the former president have performed very poorly in the straw vote of the CPAC. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan got 0.1%, while Senator Mitt Romney, R-Utah, got 0.3%.
Notably, 95% of respondents to the CPAC poll said the GOP should continue with Trump’s agenda. Only 3% said they should change direction.
Fox Nation is a sponsor of CPAC.