As hard as it is to find a 2024 Republican presidential primary poll that favors Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, it is equally difficult to find a poll that favored former President Donald Trump more than Turning Point Action's straw poll.
Trump (78.7%) trounced DeSantis (19%) by nearly 60 points in the Tampa, Florida, weekend conference's straw poll conducted by The Trafalgar Group, which was hailed by Trump on his Truth Social account Monday.
In a straw poll of the conference's young conservatives, offering the following seven choices, revealed this result:
- Trump: 78.7%.
- DeSantis: 19%.
- South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem: 1%.
- Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: 0.5%.
- Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas: 0.3%.
- Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley: 0.3%.
- Former Vice President Mike Pence: 0.3%.
In the event that Trump does not run, DeSantis was an even bigger favorite over an even larger field, according to Trafalgar's summit poll results:
- DeSantis: 87%.
- Donald Trump Jr.: 6%.
- Cruz: 2.3%.
- Noem: 1.5%.
- Pompeo: 1%.
- Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin: 0.8%.
- Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina: 0.5%.
- Haley: 0.5%.
- Pence: 0.5%.
As for the perceived "most difficult to defeat" candidate for Democrats, the poll found:
- California Gov. Gavin Newsom: 30.3%.
- Former first lady Michael Obama: 13.6%.
- 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton: 10.5%.
- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.: 10.3%.
- Vice President Kamala Harris: 7.9%.
- Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez of New York: 5.9%.
- President Joe Biden: 4.4%.
- Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg: 3.8%.
- Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii: 1%.
- Georgia Democratic nominee for governor Stacey Abrams: 0.5%.
- North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper: 0.3%.
- Colorado Gov. Jared Polis: 0.3%.
- Forward Party founder Andrew Yang: 0.3%.
- None: 7.2%.
- Other: 3.8%.
"Given Joe Biden's atrocious record, it's no wonder that young people are deserting them, and the Democrats," Trump told the summit in a Saturday night speech. "They're deserting them in droves. Nobody's ever seen anything like it.
"Not only young people, by the way, but Hispanics. Look at the Hispanic population, African Americans, Asian Americans.
"Their extreme ideology has nothing to offer the next generation," Trump added.
"The radical left is the past; our movement, Make America Great Again, America First, our movement is the future."
The Turning Point Action Summit straw poll was conducted July 23-24 among the attendees at the weekend conference. No margin of error was given.