Former United States President Donald Trump has beaten Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a new Conservative Political Action Conference's (CPAC) straw poll, gaining 69% of the votes to become the GOP's 2024 Presidential Primary.
The attendees of the poll were asked who they preferred to be the Republican Party's nominee for president in the next elections. DeSantis came in second with about 24% of the votes and Texas Sen, Ted Cruz came in third with 2%.
Trump vs. DeSantis
Despite the massive gap in votes, DeSantis was the clear favorite in a field that does not include Trump. CPAC's poll found that 65% chose DeSantis if that were the case, with Donald Trump Jr. coming in second with 8% of the vote and Cruz in third place with 6%.
The former president has consistently come out on top in CPAC's informal straw polls since leaving office in January 2021. The latest survey showed Trump expanding his lead from February's CPAC straw poll where he received 59% of the vote while DeSantis got 28%, as per Newsweek.
A month after Trump left office, a CPAC straw poll showed that 55% of respondents said they would support the Republican in a hypothetical 2024 primary while 21% said they would choose DeSantis.
However, more recent polls suggest that DeSantis could have a chance at beating Trump for the GOP nomination in 2024. A survey showed that the Florida governor trails Trump by about three points among likely Republican voters in Michigan that found the former president held a large lead among high school-educated voters while DeSantis was backed by college-educated voters.
According to CNN, a pollster for Trump, Jim McLaughlin, who conducted the straw poll, said that the former president was more popular than ever. McLaughlin announced the results from the CPAC Texas main stage roughly two hours before Trump's scheduled appearance.
CPAC Straw Poll
Despite the massive lead, Trump's win over DeSantis was only limited to CPAC attendees and is not representative of the broader GOP electorate. In an interview last month, the former president said that he was still contemplating whether or not he would be a contender for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
When Trump took the stage on Saturday evening, he declared that the CPAC straw poll is a "very respected" survey. He noted that when one views the numbers there is a great feeling of unity not only at CPAC but for the Republican Party.
However, a poll conducted last month showed that the former president received support from just under half of the Republican primary voters in a matchup with several other candidates. The former president led with 49% followed by DeSantis with 25%.
On Saturday, Trump again teased a potential 2024 presidential run as he falsely claimed that he had won a presidential election "twice," before adding "now we may have to do it again." He noted that the first priority of the Republican Party is to win an "earth-shattering victory" in 2022, referring to the November midterm elections, to allow the GOP to take a majority of both chambers of Congress, Politico reported.
