Trump trounces competitors in annual CPAC poll of presidential candidates

Those attending the annual Conservative Political Action Conference this year overwhelmingly picked Donald Trump as their favorite 2024 presidential candidate, confirming the conference remains intensely loyal to the former president. 

Mr. Trump earned 62% in the straw poll, leaving a list of 25 other GOP names in the dust.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who many predict will jump into the presidential race in the coming months, came in second, with 20% of support.

The rest of the list scored low single digits with perhaps one surprise: Perry Johnson, who just announced his intention to run for president late this week at a VIP event near the conference, placed third, with 5% of the vote.

The relatively unknown Mr. Johnson beat Nikki Haley, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Both Mrs. Haley and Mr. Pompeo spoke to the CPAC crowd this week. Mrs. Haley announced her 2024 campaign last month.

Yet, both she and Mr. Pompeo only won 1% of the vote, tying Sens. Rand Paul, of Kentucky and Ted Cruz, of Texas, and biotech tycoon Vivek Ramaswamy, for fourth place in the poll. Mr. Ramaswamy announced last month that he is also running for president, while neither Mr. Cruz nor Mr. Paul appears poised to run. 

The poll solidified CPAC’s loyalty to Mr. Trump, who has won every one of the conference’s presidential straw polls since 2019, more than any other Republican.

Mr. Trump, who will speak to the CPAC crowd later Saturday, earned a 95% approval rating in the poll and his 62% win in the presidential poll is four points higher than the last time CPAC conducted the straw poll. 

“That’s a good number,” Jim McLaughlin, who has served on Mr. Trump’s personal polling team in the past, said. 

The straw poll found former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake to be the most popular candidate for vice president.

In that category, Ms. Lake earned 20% of the vote, while Mr. DeSantis earned 14% and Mrs. Haley placed third along with Mr. Ramaswamy, who is also running for president. Mrs. Haley and Mr. Ramaswamy earned 6% of the vote for vice president. 

The poll asked attendees a number of other questions, including their views on how the GOP should move forward with the abortion issue now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized the procedure.

In the poll, only 13% of respondents wanted Congress to push for more abortion restrictions at the federal level, while 74% said the matter should be regulated by the states. Another 13% said they were unsure.

The reaction seems to mirror Mr. Trump’s views. The former president criticized the GOP during the 2022 midterm elections for advocating in some cases total bans on the procedure with no exceptions.

In the poll, only 5% of respondents said Congress should raise the nation’s $31.4 trillion borrowing limit. Another 45% said Republicans should force Democrats to negotiate a borrowing increase and 38% said Congress should not raise the debt limit.