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DeSantis Beats Trump in Presidential Straw Poll

DeSantis Beats Trump in Presidential Straw Poll

According to the left-wing media spin machine, the Republican Party has become a cult-of-personality devoted to former President Trump.  I have written a couple of commentaries refuting that claim.  Now we see some real preliminary evidence. A recent presidential straw poll by the Western Conservative Summit had Trump in second place as the preferred Presidential candidate for 2024.  First place in the presidential straw poll went to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. 

In another recent commentary, I opined that DeSantis would be far and away the leading candidate if Trump did not make a run for a non-consecutive second term.  I did not think DeSantis would run if Trump were to enter the race. But I am not at all sure that Trump will be a candidate for President in 2024.  In fact, I tend to believe he will not be.

The contest between DeSantis and Trump was verrrrry close. But what is also significant is how far DeSantis was ahead of the rest of the potential GOP field in the presidential straw poll.  DeSantis was viewed favorably by 74 percent of the responses, while Trump came in at 71 percent.  But DeSantis bested third-place Senator Ted Cruz by 35 percentage points.

It was also noteworthy that former Vice President Pence received a respectable 20 percent show of support.  This would suggest that those who call him a traitor is an exceedingly small number – again busting the myth advanced by the elitist media that Pence has no place in the Republican Party.

What makes this presidential straw poll a bit of a harbinger of things to come is that DeSantis was the number one choice even assuming that Trump was in the race.

For sure, it is not a big poll – and there is a lot of time before now and 2024. But DeSantis winning this presidential straw poll is evidence that Republican voters will be considering a lot of possibilities in the coming months.  They will not be marching in lockstep behind Trump as the press would have Americans to believe.  Trump will have to make his case to the voters if he runs.  He does not have a lock on the nomination.

Once we get into the Republican primaries for the 2024 election, I am betting that the current political narrative – that Trump is leading a coup and Republican voters are nothing more than political zombies — will have gone the way of the Democrats’ “Russian Conspiracy” conspiracy theory, the highly reported firing of Special Counsel Robert Mueller myth and the totally inaccurate Lafayette Square reports.

It looks like 2024 is shaping up to be a two man race with one or the other not running.

So, there ‘tis.

About The Author

Larry Horist

So, there ‘tis… The opinions, perspectives and analyses of businessman, conservative writer and political strategist Larry Horist. Larry has an extensive background in economics and public policy. For more than 40 years, he ran his own Chicago based consulting firm. His clients included such conservative icons as Steve Forbes and Milton Friedman. He has served as a consultant to the Nixon White House and travelled the country as a spokesman for President Reagan’s economic reforms. Larry professional emphasis has been on civil rights and education. He was consultant to both the Chicago and the Detroit boards of education, the Educational Choice Foundation, the Chicago Teachers Academy and the Chicago Academy for the Performing Arts. Larry has testified as an expert witness before numerous legislative bodies, including the U. S. Congress, and has lectured at colleges and universities, including Harvard, Northwestern and DePaul. He served as Executive Director of the City Club of Chicago, where he led a successful two-year campaign to save the historic Chicago Theatre from the wrecking ball. Larry has been a guest on hundreds of public affairs talk shows, and hosted his own program, “Chicago In Sight,” on WIND radio. An award-winning debater, his insightful and sometimes controversial commentaries have appeared on the editorial pages of newspapers across the nation. He is praised by audiences for his style, substance and sense of humor. Larry retired from his consulting business to devote his time to writing. His books include a humorous look at collecting, “The Acrapulators’ Guide”, and a more serious history of the Democratic Party’s role in de facto institutional racism, “Who Put Blacks in That PLACE? -- The Long Sad History of the Democratic Party’s Oppression of Black Americans ... to This Day”. Larry currently lives in Boca Raton, Florida.

12 Comments

  1. Ben

    I hope that eventually the straw pullers realize this is trump’s party. That 70 million people voted for him. May god keep mr trump healthy and alive for the next 3.5 years! MAGA!

    • Anonymous

      You are an idiot

  2. Ben

    This is great news. Desantis beating trump in this poll will be his downfall. You know trump will tear Desantis limb from limb. Trump will verbally attack him and humiliate him. The cult will fall in line and Desantis’s career will be over.
    This is the best case scenario. Desantis is politically savvy and disciplined, he would be able to do so much more damage to our Country than trump because of this.
    Besides, this is a moot point, trump will be reinstalled in August.

    • Dan Tyree

      Ben I just want a conservative Republican to win in 2024. I didn’t vote for Trump in our primary in 2016. I voted for Ted Cruz. But I was going to vote for whomever got the republicans nomination. I sure as hell wasn’t going to vote for killery cunton. Trump probably won’t run next time but whomever the republicans nominee is will get my vote. Certainly not the brain dead idiot that’s got the job now. And the polls are showing that the republicans are favored to win big in the midterms next year. Don’t shoot the messenger. I’m just looking at several polls and regarding the 2016 election it could be not true. But I think that it is. Most Americans are fed up with leftist agendas. I said when the commiecrats got power that they would overreach and piss people off. And if Trump does run in 2024 he would probably win. Our country is blowing up in our faces because that the party in charge has stopped being patriots and have become Marxist. I was a democrat from my earlier years but, like Reagan, I didn’t leave the party. They left me. They once were the champions of the working people but now they are the champions of lawlessness and laziness. Once it didn’t matter so much who was in charge. The differences between the parties were slim. John Kennedy was more conservative than many republicans. He was even a life member of the NRA. But now the movement that started in the 60’s has became entwined in our government. We need to get together and stand up for our constitution no matter how we believe that it should be. The laws are only enforced on certain people and the rest of us are screwed. By example, Hunter Biden lying on the paperwork to purchase a gun and nothing is done about it. I would have been locked up. And a judge telling a thug that helped burn down a police station that he isn’t a bad person and giving him a slap on the wrist. So go ahead and support your commie party and let’s hope for the best. My rant could go on and on but I think that I’ve made my point.

      • Ben

        Dan,
        The Democratic Party didn’t leave you. It’s the same party it’s been for 50+ years. The radical right has indoctrinated you.
        In the last 30 years, I went from a moderate Democrat to a Marxist, socialist, commicrat and my political views haven’t changed.

        Y’all have moved so radically far right that Reagan wouldn’t even get through the primaries, you call Mitch McConnell, John McCain and Mike Pence traitors! The radical right even tried to hang Pence.

        The problem you have is Democrats are actually the Big tent party. That is why Democratic Senators represent 43 million more people in an evenly divided House. We will accept anyone into our coalition and you don’t like being lumped in with people of color and queers. The party hasn’t changed, your bigoted views just became incompatible with the various groups caucusing together.
        I do however enjoy your clever name calling! I know it’s not original, but it is entertaining.

        • Dan Tyree

          50 plus years of communism

          • Ben

            Dan, obviously the definitions of words have no meaning to you. Again, 50 years ago, Biden would have been a moderate Capitalist Republican. Now according to you weirdos, he is a radical leftist.

  3. Lee

    Ben, you’re delusional, if you don’t think believe the Democratic Party has changed!

    • Ben

      Lee, in what way? If they have changed, it is for the better and more inclusive and more representative of ALL Americans.

  4. Ben

    Holy shit have you guys seen this new law that requires college students and professors to fill out a form disclosing their political beliefs?
    I mean, if Obama did that Fox news would explode. Heads would be spinning. Oh well, just another day in Florida man’s quest to be your presidential nominee.

    • Dan Tyree

      The Florida governor was accused of signing that bill. He didn’t. It’s a damned lie. More fake news.

      • Ben

        Dan,
        Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill on June 23 requiring an annual assessment of “intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity” at public colleges and universities.
        The Governor DID sign the bill. However, I will concede that it does not REQUIRE participation.

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