DeSantis beats Trump in conservative summit’s 2024 straw poll for second time

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) bested former President Trump for the second year in a row in a 2024 presidential election straw poll conducted Saturday.

The poll was taken at the Western Conservative Summit in Aurora, Colo., a gathering of 2,000 people in person and thousands more over the internet sponsored by the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University.

The percentage of voters who said they approved of DeSantis for the 2024 race topped the percentage for Trump by over 3 points, a slight 0.6 point increase from last year’s results.

Voters selected all the candidates of whom they approve for a 2024 run in the poll, with 71 percent saying they approve of DeSantis compared to 67.7 percent who approve of Trump.

Both approval rates were marginally higher in 2021, DeSantis coming in at 74.1 percent and Trump at 71.4 percent.

The rest of the potential candidates trailed behind DeSantis and Trump by significant margins.

Voters’ third choice for the presidency, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, was approved by 28.7 percent, followed by former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson (24.2 percent) and former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders (18.4 percent).

Five more Republican politicians followed them in the polls: South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (17.4 percent), former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (16.7 percent), political activist Donald Trump Jr. (16.2 percent), former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (15.5 percent) and former Vice President Mike Pence (14.4 percent).

Potential candidates less approved by the base included former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D) at 13.4 percent and Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson (11.8 percent), both of whom still blew away 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang, President Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I), who ended the list with approval under 2 percent.

None of the candidates included in the poll has officially announced a 2024 run for president, but all are considered possible candidates.

DeSantis and Trump have been seen as the most likely to run for the 2024 Republican nomination.