Trump easily wins vote in Texas GOP CPAC 2024 presidential nominations. DeSantis second

DALLAS – Former President Donald Trump convincingly won the 2024 GOP presidential nomination vote at the three-day Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Texas

Trump, who has repeatedly teased another presidential bid in 2024 to try to return to the White House, won 69 percent of the vote in the anonymous online straw poll, according to results released by CPAC on Saturday.

Support for the former president, who remains the most popular and powerful politician in the Republican Party and continues to play kingmaker in GOP primaries, is up from 59 percent in the anonymous online straw poll at the CPAC gathering in Orlando. Florida in February.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came in second on the 2024 presidential nomination question, with 24 percent, up from 28 percent at CPAC in Orlando five months ago.

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Former President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Texas on July 11, 2021. (Photo by Andy JACOBSOHN/AFP) (Photo by ANDY JACOBSOHN/AFP via Getty Images)
(Photo by ANDY JACOBSOHN/AFP via Getty Images)

DeSantis has seen his popularity rise among Republican voters in his state and across the nation over the past two and a half years, thanks in large part to his relentless push against COVID-19 restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic as well as his aggressive actions in the culture wars.

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While DeSantis has repeatedly fended off talk of a possible run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, political pundits see him as a potential White House contender.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, U.S., February 24, 2022. REUTERS/Octavio Jones/File Photo
(Reuters)

The results of the CPAC poll in Texas were announced shortly before Trump’s keynote speech at the confab. DeSantis, who appeared at the Orlando convention earlier this year, did not attend the Texas rally.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who spoke Friday at the convention, won 2 percent of the vote. No one else among the 21 names listed on the ballot exceeded one percent.

“President Trump remains the most dominant force in American politics, and as another poll shows, that’s a reality that will drive the growth and success of the Republican Party through the midterms and beyond,” said Trump spokesman Taylor Budowitz. on Fox News after the results. they were released.

The 2024 poll also included a second list without Trump. His name was replaced by his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.

DeSantis topped the 2024 second ballot, with 65%. Donald Trump Jr. won 8% support, with Cruz at 6% and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at 5%. No one else topped two percent on the second ballot question.

The former president’s strong performance in anti-scientific research is no surprise. CPAC, long the largest and most important gathering of conservative leaders and activists, has become a Trump fest since his 2016 presidential victory.

In a separate question about who CPAC attendees would like to see as Trump’s running mate in 2024 if he launches a campaign, DeSantis won the support of 43 percent, with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem at 9 percent and Pompeo at 7%.

No one else topped 4% on the ballot question.

Voting on the CPAC Texas ballot was open to confab attendees only, with voting once again via the CPAC app.

Matt Schlapp, president of the American Conservative Association, which runs CPAC, said “there is an unbreakable bond between President Trump and the conservative movement. He just did the things he promised to do, and for that they are grateful.”

Veteran Republican pollster Jim McLaughlin told Fox News that the CPAC ballot is “the ultimate barometer of what’s happening in the conservative movement.”

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McLaughlin and Associates, which polled Trump’s successful 2016 election and failed 2020 re-election bid, once again oversaw the CPAC poll.

McLaughlin, who has been attending CPAC for decades, said that “just like back in the day, when Ronald Reagan defined and set the tone for the conservative movement, so it is now with Donald Trump.”