Trump wins the CPAC straw poll as attendees clamour for him to run again
Former U.S. President Donald Trump bathed in the adulation of an adoring crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference Sunday as he easily won the straw poll of attendees when they were asked who they'd like to see run for the White House in 2024.
The political gathering normally serves as an audition for Republican presidential contenders, but the three-day session was yet another example of how Trump has effectively frozen the field more than three years before the next election as he teases another possible run.
Trump accused big tech companies of skewing the votes in the 2020 election through censorship and he chided the press for stating that there is no widespread evidence of voter fraud. He accused the "radical left" of cheating and called the 2020 election "a disgrace to our nation."
"We are truly being scorned and disrespected all over the world. Never forget that the radical left is not the majority in this country. We are the majority and it's not even close," Trump said as the crowd cheered and chanted "USA! USA! USA!"
Though Republicans are looking ahead to next year's midterm elections as they try to craft an effective line of attack against a popular President and his administration. But there was no issue more dominant at the CPAC gathering in Dallas than Trump's false claim that the 2020 election was fraudulent, even though there is no evidence of widespread voting fraud in last year's contest.
Trump topped the list of roughly a dozen candidates that included him with 70%, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won the support of 21%.
DeSantis, who did not even draw a mention by name from Trump during the former President's recent rally in Florida, was the clear winner when Trump was not a contender.
DeSantis was backed by 68% of CPAC attendees in the second question omitting the former President, followed by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at 5% and Donald Trump Jr. at 4%. Trump's approval rating amongst CPAC attendees was 98%.
While many CPAC attendees railed against critical race theory, "cancel culture," and the hand of government as a looming "big brother" hovering over Americans' lives and decisions during the Covid-19 pandemic, Trump's insistence that his 2020 contest with Joe Biden was rigged is still dominating the GOP agenda eight months after the election.
