Donald Trump Wins CPAC Straw Poll, More Than Tripling DeSantis’ Support

The Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll on Saturday was overwhelmingly won by former President Donald Trump, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis a distant second and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo all pulling in single digit support.

Trump scooped up a whopping 62 percent of the vote of CPAC attendees, with DeSantis pulling in less than a third of that at 20 percent. The Florida governor’s poor polling at the conservative confab was somewhat expected since he decided not to attend.

Michigan millionaire and longest-of-longshot candidates Perry Johnson came in a surprising third, with 5 percent. According to Politico reporter Meridith McGraw, Johnson’s campaign “set up shop here this week” and apparently the on-the-ground efforts paid off.

https://twitter.com/meridithmcgraw/status/1632085537807908865?s=20

Haley followed with 3 percent, and then Ramaswamy, Paul, Cruz, and Pompeo each got 1 percent.

DeSantis was more competitive with the question asking CPAC attendees who they wanted as vice president. With the majority of poll takers (62%) picking Trump, most of these answers would be assuming the 45th president at the top of the ticket.

Kari Lake, the losing Arizona governor candidate who was tapped to deliver a keynote speech at CPAC, came in first with 20 percent picking her for veep, followed by DeSantis at 14 percent, Haley at 10 percent, and then a large field in the single digits.

Sarah Rumpf contributed to this article.

This article has been updated with additional information.