- Trump was the choice of 69% of CPAC attendees to become the 2024 Republican presidential nominee.
- DeSantis, who has emerged as a potential 2024 contender, came in second place, winning 24% support.
- Most CPAC attendees thought Gavin Newsom — and not Biden — would be the 2024 Democratic WH nominee.
Former President Donald Trump on Saturday easily won an unofficial straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a sign of his continued strength among grassroots activists and the GOP base as he mulls a 2024 White House campaign.
At the CPAC convention in Dallas, Trump received 69% of the vote, with Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida coming in second place with 24% support.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas came in third with 2% support, with other potential candidates receiving 1% of the vote or less.
The showing reflects an increase in support for Trump from the last CPAC straw poll taken in February, when the former president received 59% of the vote, compared to 28% for DeSantis.
The former president had a 99% approval rating among CPAC attendees, with nine-out-of-ten respondents expressing that they strongly approved of his job performance while he was in the White House.
If Trump decides not to enter the race, DeSantis would become the runaway favorite to succeed the former president as the GOP presidential nominee, as he received 65% of the vote in such a scenario, with Donald Trump Jr. coming in second place with 8% support, followed by Cruz at 6% and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with 5% support.
DeSantis, who is running for reelection to a second term this fall, has become one of the most-talked about Republicans in the entire country as he has used his governorship to enact sweeping conservative policies across the Sunshine State.
However, Trump remains enormously popular among Republican base voters and would almost certainly command a strong showing of support among GOP lawmakers if he were to announce a third presidential campaign, which could come in advance of the 2022 midterm elections — when the party hopes to flip one or both chambers of Congress.
When it comes to the vice presidential slot, though, DeSantis came out on top, winning 43% support in a CPAC straw poll, followed by Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota at 9% and Pompeo with 7% support.
As it relates to Democrats, most CPAC attendees didn't think either President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris would be that party's nominee in 2024, despite Biden's plans to seek reelection with Harris as his running mate that year.
Among attendees, 37% expected Gov. Gavin Newsom of California to be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2024, followed by former first lady Michelle Obama at 16%, Biden at 8%, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at 8%.
Harris was selected as the likely Democratic nominee by 4% of attendees.