ORLANDO, Fla. Nearly four months after losing the 2020 election, Donald J. Trump was able to celebrate a winner again on Sunday, after capturing the 2024 presidential straw of the Conservative Political Action Conference, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ended first in a second 2024 straw level covering a field of potential candidates that did not mr. Trump did not include.
But in a surprising bit of bad news for Mr. Trump, only 68 percent of those at the conference said they want the former president to serve again in 2024. Many more participants, 95 percent, said they want the Republican Party Mr. Trump’s policies and agenda underscored that he was up and running again, even if the mere mention of Mr. Trump’s name earned loud applause during the three-day rally of activists.
The straw polls, conducted by secret ballot, reflect the view of current and former elected officials, activists, writers and others who attended the three-day conference – a group that generally represents the far-right wing of the Republican Party and now an exorbitant number of Mr. Trump’s most passionate supporters include.
The former president thoroughly dominated the weekend gathering in Orlando – a giant gold replica of him was a major attraction for activists – and the organizers of the event, better known as CPAC, put together two straw packs to determine the next presidential field. Mr. Trump runs or not.
Mr. Trump received 55 percent of the vote in the straw ball in which he was included. Mr. DeSantis was the only Republican to score double figures, with 21 percent support, in the straw man that Mr. Trump included. The results were presented by Jim McLaughlin, an opinion pollster for Mr. Trump who did the survey for CPAC.
Over the weekend, many of the CPAC speakers, especially other potential Republican 2024 candidates, Mr.
“Donald J. Trump is going nowhere,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said Friday with thunderous applause.
The results were announced on Sunday afternoon just before Mr. Trump appeared at CPAC to give the first speech of his post-presidency.
The highlight for mr. DeSantis in the straw man without mr. Trump is a boost for his rise as a leading Republican for the post-Trump era. As the governor of the critical swing state of Florida (which is also now Mr. Trump’s home), Mr. DeSantis has become a popular figure among science-skeptical Republicans because of its resistance to Covid-related barriers.
In his speech on Friday, the current phase to the Republican policy is captured. “We can sit and have academic debates on conservative policies, we can do that,” he said. “But the question is when the Klieg lamps get hot, when the left side comes after you: will you stay strong or will you fold?”
Mr DeSantis also vowed never to return to “the failed Republican establishment of yesteryear.” Mr DeSantis, like other prospective presidential candidates, has not indicated whether he indeed intends to run in the 2024 Republican nomination for the White House.
He earns 43 percent in the straw man without Mr. Trump, with Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota finishing second, with 11 percent.
The CPAC’s straw polls have not been particularly predictive for future presidential candidates. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky won three in a row in the run-up to the 2016 primary, which he stopped after a poor performance in one game – the Iowa caucuses. Utah Senator Mitt Romney has won four CPAC scatterbrains (in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2012), but he is now a figure whose name was angry and ridiculed as one of Trump’s fiercest Republican critics.
Still, the early 2021 success for Mr. DeSantis gives him a bigger platform and bragging rights for a party that is very much looking for any identity that is not mr. Trump is not reliable.
The outcome of the straw man was probably discouraging for former Vice President Mike Pence, who did not attend the conference. He has been a loyal no. 2 of mr. Trump served, but his unwillingness to try to challenge or overthrow the results of the 2020 election made him angry with Mr. Trump and in turn those of many in the Republican base. Mr. Pence earned one percent of the CPAC vote.