Former Vice President Mike Pence has been the least favorite Republican since voting to accept the electors for President Joe Biden as the president in January. The incident prompted insurrectionists to flock to the U.S. Capitol, complete with gallows where they chanted "hang Mike Pence" and searched for him during the siege.
Each year, CPAC does a straw poll for the next election, which generally helps give bragging rights to the winners to fundraise off of. More than three years out from the 2024 election, the CPAC voters have agreed that they want former President Donald Trump as their GOP nominee. But Trump only got 55%in the poll. That said, it is a dramatic shift from the 2016 straw poll that was won by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, at 40% and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL, at 30%.
This year, the poll also showed who the top Republican candidates are without Donald Trump. Among those, Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-FL, leads.
See the results below via Twitter:
#CPAC2021 poll w/o Trump
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) February 28, 2021
Ron DeSantis: 43%
Kristi Noem: 11%
Don Jr: 8%
Mike Pompeo: 7%
Ted Cruz: 7%
Tucker Carlson: 3%
Josh Hawley: 3%
Nikki Haley: 3%
Ivanka: 3%
Rand Paul: 2%
... and Mike Pence: 1%
