Trump wins CPAC straw poll, with DeSantis also proving popular


When asked who they want to see run for president in 2024, attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Sunday showed their loyalty to former President Donald Trump.
They were asked to choose from two different list of potential candidates, with Trump an option on one but not the other. Trump was the clear winner of the list where he was included, with 70 percent of respondents saying they want him to run, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) with 21 percent. DeSantis was the top choice when Trump was not on the list, winning the support of 68 percent of respondents, followed by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with 5 percent and Donald Trump Jr. with 4 percent.
Overall, Trump's approval rating among all attendees was 98 percent, CNN reports. He spoke at the Dallas event on Sunday, where he again tried to falsely paint the 2020 presidential election as being rigged. He claimed that his supporters are "the majority, and it's not even close," and he believes "there is another set of rules for law-abiding conservative Americans who happen to be Republicans, who simply want to speak their minds and exercise their rights to talk about the election."
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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