Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won the Western Conservative Summit straw poll this weekend, edging out Donald Trump as the crowd’s preferred 2024 GOP presidential nominee.
So what
DeSantis — whose tough-on-crime, pro-business, anti-lockdown administration has won him many Republican admirers — is the odds-on favorite to replace Trump if the former president doesn’t run again.
The poll
Among attendees of the Western Conservative Summit in Denver, Colorado, 74% approved of DeSantis as their nominee, compared to 71% for Trump, the runner-up.
The reaction
The left: Some liberal commentators on Twitter speculated DeSantis’ victory would enrage Trump and possibly backfire.
The right: But many conservatives rallied behind DeSantis, who has been described as “Trump but more competent.”
Also-rans
A distant third in the straw poll was Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, while coming in 10th was former Vice President Mike Pence, who was heckled as a “traitor” at a different conservative policy conference Friday in Florida.
