Organizers announced at the CPAC convention in Texas that Trump won 69 percent of the vote, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSandis (D) with 24 percent. Trump widened his lead from the last CPAC poll in February, when he received the support of 59 percent of voters to DeSantis’ 28 percent. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) came in third with 2 percent, while other options received 1 percent support or less. In a hypothetical poll without Trump in the race, DeSantis held the lead with 65 percent. Donald Trump Jr. came in second with 8 percent, Cruz came in third with 6 percent and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo came in fourth with 5 percent. Despite DeSantis gaining attention as a possible alternative to Trump as the GOP nominee for 2024, Trump has consistently dominated informal CPAC polls since leaving office last year. Trump won the poll conducted at CPAC in February 2021, about a month into his term, with 55 percent of the vote, followed by DeSantis with 21 percent. He received 70 percent support in a poll taken at a second CPAC convention last July. DeSantis meanwhile remained a solid second-place finisher, but was unable to win 30% of support. DeSantis led among possible choices to be the vice presidential nominee with 43 percent, followed by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) with 9 percent and Pompeo with 7 percent. Trump’s approval rating among CPAC attendees hit 99 percent, up two points from February. Nine in 10 said they strongly approve of Trump’s performance as president. More than 60 percent of voters cited election integrity as the most important issue, a sign of Trump’s influence on the party as he continues to claim without evidence that voter fraud cost him re-election in the 2020 presidential election. Frustrated grassroots leaders say more is needed from the White House Democratic senators vow to vote ‘no’ on all amendments to the party’s climate, tax and health bills More than half of voters cited building a border wall and immigration as one of the most important issues, while about 30 percent cited energy independence and constitutional rights, respectively. The results also showed that CPAC participants overwhelmingly do not expect President Biden or Vice President Harris to be the Democratic nominee in 2024. Thirty-seven percent think California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) will be the Democratic nominee, while 16 percent expect former first lady Michelle Obama. Biden was picked by 8 percent, along with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Harris was chosen by 4 percent.
