WEST PALM BEACH, FL - OCTOBER 03: Republican candidate for Florida governor Ron DeSantis waits to be introduced during an event put on by the Police Benevolent Association in Palm Beach County on October 3, 2018 in West Palm Beach, Florida. DeSantis …
ORLANDO, Fla. - DeSantis 2024? Outside of Trump, the Florida Governor has support, a straw poll held at CPAC shows.
Former President Donald Trump, in results announced Sunday, won the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) straw poll with 55% of attendees saying they'd vote for him if the 2024 GOP primary were today.
Trump got 55% of the vote in the poll in which he was included, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in second place at 21%.
CPAC also took a poll without Trump. DeSantis won that poll with 43% of the vote, followed by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem with 11% and Donald Trump Jr. at 8%.
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Governor DeSantis spoke at the conference on Friday, boasting that Florida was an "oasis of freedom" compared to other states with more COVID-19 restrictions.
"We look around in other parts of our country, and in far too many places, we see schools closed, businesses shuttered and lives destroyed. And while so many governors over the last year kept locking people down, Florida lifted people up," he said.
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Gov. DeSantis speaks at CPAC
Gov. DeSantis spoke to attendees at CPAC in Orlando on Friday.
Trump's approval rating in the straw poll was 97%, with 87% saying they strongly approve of Trump's job as president. And 68% of people at CPAC in the straw poll said that Trump should run for president again.
American Conservative Union President Matt Schlapp also said in an interview with Fox News last week that any Republicans wanting to win the 2024 GOP nomination would need to be closely aligned with Trump.
"Look, you're not going to get the Republican nomination being a never-Trumper,' Schlapp said. "You're not going to get the Republican nomination if you're not a strong conservative. So all of that kind of courting, it's appropriate that it starts at CPAC."
Notably, 95% of those who responded to the CPAC straw poll said that the GOP should continue with the Trump agenda. Only 3% said it should change direction.
FOX News contributed to this report.
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