Former President Donald Trump Saturday, one day after being indicted on federal charges, took the top spot in the annual Western Conservative Summit straw poll, outpacing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his nearest challenger for the GOP presidential nomination, by 40.3% to 35.8%.
The closest other candidates were Larry Elder, at 7.7%, and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., at 5.8%, leading Jeff Hunt, co-chair of the summit to comment that there is a "two-horse race" for the nomination.
"The results are clear — Western grassroots conservatives want a fighter who will take on the radical Left and the institutions that are destroying America’s founding principles," Hunt said.
The summit is hosted by the Centennial Institute, a public policy think tank at Colorado Christian University, and is one of the largest annual gatherings of conservatives in the western United States.
Meanwhile, an approval poll at the summit showed DeSantis having a slightly higher approval rating over Trump, netting 66.9% approval over 63.4% for Trump.
The attendees were also asked to vote on the policy issues that were most important to them. The top issues were election integrity and religious freedom, tied at 73%. The other top issues were education/parental rights, immigration/border security, gun rights, federal budget/debt, national defense, crime, abortion, and China.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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