In an interview with Newsmax on Thursday, President Donald Trump didn’t rule out Governor DeSantis as his running mate.
“I was very responsible for his success,” said Trump. “I endorsed him, and he went up like a rocket ship. Just like I endorsed Mary Miller [in Illinois] the other day, who supposedly was not going to win and she won, just like [gubernatorial candidate] Darren Bailey is doing great. I think he’s going to beat [Gov. J.B.] Pritzker, one of the worst governors in the country.”
President Trump hasn’t confirmed if he will be running again in 2024, but many are speculating he will.
“I’m leading in all the polls,” he said. “I’m leading in the Republican polls in numbers that nobody’s ever even seen before, and against Biden and anybody else they run. I’m leading against them.”
In June, Governor DeSantis beat President Trump in a straw poll conducted at the Western Conservative Summit in Aurora, Colorado. The poll for who should run in the 2024 presidential election was taken by 2,000 people gathered in person, as well as thousands on the internet.
The voters selected whom they approved to run in 2024 with 71 % saying they approve of DeSantis and 67.7% saying they approved of Trump.
Trump has repeatedly been the top winner of straw polls across the country, however.
Trump won the CPAC straw poll back in February.
Politico reported:
Trump won 59 percent support from attendees when asked their preference of potential 2024 presidential candidates, according to results released Sunday.
“So much for him fading,” pollster Jim McLaughlin said from the stage as he announced the results, noting that Trump had gained 4 percentage points since last year’s CPAC straw poll in Orlando.
Popular Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had 28 percent support. All other candidates drew minimal support.
The poll was seen as the first primary match-up between Trump and DeSantis and was being closely watched in case there is any sign of an opening for someone not named Trump. McLaughlin announced that 2,574 attendees answered the poll questions.
But while Trump was the overwhelming favorite among attendees at this year’s CPAC, some aren’t quite sure the former president — or even DeSantis — should run.
“I would love it if it was Trump. My concern is if he would be so polarizing,” said Christina Kasten from Orlando, citing his brash language and personality. “I don’t want DeSantis to run because he is our governor and we could lose our state to the blue.”
In her decades as an eligible voter, Mary Donovan didn’t register to vote until 2016 — when she cast her first ballot. Trump, she said, was the candidate who inspired her to vote.
“He’s the only president I’ve ever felt cares for our country,” Donovan, of Clearwater Beach, Fla., said at CPAC on Sunday prior to the straw poll announcement.
If Trump decides not to run — and Donovan isn’t convinced he will — her governor, DeSantis, would easily be her next pick, she said.
