OXON HILL, Md. – Donald Trump tops the straw polls announced and the likely 2024 presidential candidate at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this week – no one has followed the gatherings of activists dominated by Trump in recent years.
Trump was the clear winner on the question of who to support if the 2024 presidential election were held today, receiving 62% of the vote. Elsewhere there is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) with 20%. DeSantis, widely known as Trump’s main rival, has not officially announced his candidacy. However, he reportedly went to Iowa, the state of the first presidential nomination for Republicans, this month and is sitting on a big campaign battle chest. Approximately 2,000 CPAC guests voted in an online poll using their conference credentials.
Kari Lake, Arizona’s 2022 Republican gubernatorial nominee who has spoken several times at CPAC, is the top choice for vice president. Of the respondents, 20% said they wanted Lake to be Trump’s running mate.
Support for Trump has softened somewhat since last year’s poll in which Trump led the hypothetical race, with 85% of respondents calling him the top choice for the GOP nomination.
CPAC hosts conferences around the country and internationally throughout the year, but its season-ending event is historically the largest gathering of conservative activists in the country. Saturday’s poll comes ahead of Trump’s keynote address and is the first taken for the organization since Trump launched his third presidential campaign in November. This suggests that at least those willing to pay around $300 for a CPAC ticket are still associated with Trump, more than any other national poll in the 2024 field.
“We believe in him, and we want him to win in great terms,” said Allyse Wolf, a Texas who made up one-fifth of the group that sequined jacket written TRUMP. “A lot of people say, ‘I don’t like the way he tweets’ or ‘I don’t like the way he talks about people.’ Who cares? As long as they do the work to restore this country and where it belongs.
Ruth Goetz, a member of the Maryland GOP central committee who wore a homemade, bright red Trump 2024 shirt, said she didn’t get the impression that the other 2024 candidates had primary support. “I’m dressed as Trump 2024, so that’s all they say to me,” Goetz said. “[Trump] do a lot for our country. He has achieved so much.”
Trump’s likely opponents have mostly avoided the conference, and the reception has not always been warm for those who show up. Backers Trump accosted former Republican South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley after the speech, NBC News reported. Anti-Rise activist Vivek Ramaswamy, who has a solo speaking slot, is barely registered in the 1%, along with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Only 2% of CPAC attendees were undecided.
The biggest surprise was Michigan businessman Perry Johnson, who 5% of respondents said they would vote for today (Johnson came to CPAC with a bus full of supporters). Johnson beat Haley, Trump’s former UN ambassador, by 2 percentage points.