The 45th President, Donald Trump, is still wildly popular with Republican voters, polling at the CPAC Conference shows. In a straw poll taken among attendees on Saturday, just over 69 percent said they wanted to see Trump run again in 2024. The poll is conducted online and is anonymous.
President Trump has made his fair share of campaign rounds for 2022 and the midterm elections. Some political pundits describe him as a “kingmaker.” As of last week, Fox News reported that 95 percent of the candidates Trump had endorsed went on to win their primary.
Ironically, in February, at a previous CPAC event, those who said they wished to see Donald Trump run once more for the presidency was only 59 percent.
Another favorite in the Republican Party, currently, is Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis. Just this week, DeSantis suspended a Tampa-area district attorney whom DeSantis said was refusing to enforce laws on abortion or other serious crimes. Governor DeSantis made the announcement late last week, and many Floridians lauded him for it.
DeSantis spoke about how Andrew Warren prosecuted a pastor who opened his church and held services during the height of the pandemic.
DeSantis has become a favorite in the party for his unabashed conservative leadership. DeSantis stood up to the Biden Administration, vowing to send any migrants coming into Florida from the Southwestern U.S. border to cities like Washington, D.C.. He even said he would bus migrants to Delaware – and he followed up on that promise.
DeSantis has signed legislation that would prohibit the teaching of Critical Race Theory in Florida schools. He has spoken out on including transgender athletes on the girls’ sports teams. He also opened the economy of Florida back up at a time when many said that COVID-19 would sweep through the state if he didn’t keep the economy locked down.
Surprisingly, DeSantis came in second with 24 percent saying they’d like to see DeSantis run for the presidency in 2024; in February, he garnered 28 percent of survey participants’ votes.
At the same time, DeSantis has said that he will not run for the presidency in 2024; he has already announced that he plans to run for governor once more. Still, political pundits still believe he could – and should – be a White House contender in the next presidential election.
President Trump spoke just after the straw poll results were announced.
While he only garnered two percent of the vote in the straw poll, Senator Ted Cruz is also being considered a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2024. Senator Cruz has said he will wait to make an announcement after Donald Trump says whether he will run or not.
Most people expect Trump to run, however. He has spent most of 2022 teasing a presidential run, but he has said that really his announcement – even if he says he won’t run – is all about timing.
Some believe that if Trump announces before the midterms, the announcement could have an effect of Republican results. However, his endorsements are doing very well in their respective races.
There was a second straw poll; this one replaced Donald Trump’s name with his eldest son’s – Donald Trump Jr. When this replacement occurred, Ron DeSantis garnered 65 percent of the vote, and Donald Trump Jr. garnered only eight percent. Ted Cruz earned six percent, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whose name has been tossed around as a possible presidential candidate for 2024, only earned five percent of the attendees’ support.
While the CPAC survey is really no surprise – Trump has been a favorite attendee and speaker since he launched his campaign in 2016, other Americans may wish to see a different face represent the Republican Party. Some feel that a fresh face might garner some independent voters that aren’t keen on voting Trump. It’s unknown just who they’d pick, but DeSantis is a likely contender.
