DENVER — The federal indictment on Friday against Donald Trump did not diminish his popularity this weekend at the 14th Annual Western Conservative Summit.
The former president captured the weekend straw poll of presidential candidates with 40.3% support, compared to 35.8% for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the winner of the conservative confab’s 2021 and 2022 straw polls.
Taking third with 7.7% was radio host Larry Elder, who spoke at the event, followed by Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina with 5.8%, according to results released Sunday by the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University, which hosted the summit.
“It’s a two-horse race for the Republican nomination for president,” said Jeff Hunt, director of the Centennial Institute in Lakewood, Colorado. “The results are clear — Western grassroots conservatives want a fighter who will take on the radical Left and the institutions that are destroying America’s founding principles.”
Mr. Trump won the straw poll, but Mr. DeSantis edged him by 66.9% to 63.4% on the approval-vote question, which allows participants to check the names of all the candidates whom they approve for a particular office.
“Approval voting minimizes the dilemma of choosing between the candidate you really like and the candidate you think is most electable,” approval-voting advocate Frank Atwood said in a statement.
SEE ALSO: Southern Poverty Law Center tars parental rights advocates as ‘hate groups’
Mr. Elder received 44.9% approval, followed by Mr. Scott at 35.3% and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at 24.2%.
President Biden received less than 1% approval, which was no surprise at the conservative gathering. But Democratic presidential primary candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did unexpectedly well, with 14.4% approval.
Asked to identify their top policy concerns, participants led with election integrity and religious freedom, which both received 73%, followed by education/parental rights at 72%, immigration/border security at 71% and gun rights at 71%.
This year’s summit drew 1,500 attendees to the Colorado Convention Center for a two-day fest of speeches and workshops featuring Republican lawmakers, conservative activists and religious leaders.
They included biblical scholar Yoram Hazony, former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, NCAA All-American swimmer Riley Gaines, author and radio host Eric Metaxas, radio host Erick Erickson, Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon, PragerU personality CJ Pearson, and Cheryl Chumley, online opinion editor for The Washington Times.
.@ckchumley is live on the main stage at #wcs23!
— Washington Times Opinion (@WashTimesOpEd) June 9, 2023
Watch here: https://t.co/qnKYO63cWE pic.twitter.com/m97xZmiOVg
Tina Descovich, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, noted that her organization was added last week to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “hate map,” along with other parental-rights groups like Parents Defending Education.
Why? “Moms for Liberty and the parents’ rights movement as a whole are upsetting the balance of power in education across America, but also we’re upsetting the balance of power in America,” Ms. Descovich said. “It’s wild to think about, I know, it’s a bold statement to say, but we’re watching it happen every day.
Republican speakers included Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley; Colorado Reps. Lauren Boebert, Ken Buck and Doug Lamborn; Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman; and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a GOP candidate for president.
Ms. Boebert offered a spirited defense of Mr. Trump, who faces 31 counts of violating the Espionage Act for “willful retention” of classified documents as well as conspiring to obstruct justice with aide Walt Nauta.
“Biden has classified documents, Hillary Clinton has classified documents, good old Mike Pence has classified documents,” Ms. Boebert told the crowd. “But when they find President Trump has classified documents, who was a president, had the authority to declassify, they say, ’Espionage Act! Indict him!’”
Kyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted of two deadly shootings during 2020 rioting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, turned up at the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners booth.
The summit, whose theme was “Western Strong,” also featured representatives from a host of Western states, including California, Nevada, Montana, Texas and Wyoming.
“New to the summit this year are state-based delegations,” Mr. Hunt said. “We have recognized that the Western Conservative Summit has been for many years just kind of a Colorado conservative summit, and we need to address the Western issues that we’re facing.”
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.