https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-cpac-voting-machine_n_640392cbe4b029d8701679c2
The Outcome Of CPAC's Straw Poll Was No Surprise
Donald Trump topped the straw poll of declared and likely 2024 presidential candidates at this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) — a shock to no one who has followed the increasingly Trump-dominated gathering of activists in recent years.
Trump was the clear winner on the question of whom respondents would support if the 2024 presidential primary were held today, earning 62% of the vote. In second place was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) with 20%. DeSantis, widely seen as Trump’s chief rival, has yet to declare his candidacy officially. However, he is reportedly heading to Iowa, the first presidential nominating state for Republicans, later this month and is sitting on a massive campaign war chest. Roughly 2,000 CPAC guests voted in the poll online using their conference credentials.
CPAC hosts conferences nationwide and internationally throughout the year, but the late-winter event is historically the country’s biggest gathering of conservative activists. Saturday’s poll preceded Trump’s keynote speech and was the first taken for the organization since Trump launched his third presidential campaign in November. It showed that at least the people willing to shell out roughly $300 for a CPAC ticket are still in thrall to Trump, far more than in other national polls of the 2024 field.
“We believe in the man, and we want him to win in his terms bigly,” said Allyse Wolf, a Texan who made up one-fifth of a group whose sequined jackets spelled out T-R-U-M-P. “A lot of people say, ‘I don’t like the way he tweets’ or ‘I don’t like the way he talks about people.’ Who cares? As long as he does the job of getting this country back on its feet and where it belongs.”
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