Florida’s Ron DeSantis closing the gap with Donald Trump

While a straw poll gave the former president a sizeable lead, it did suggest the Florida governor was emerging as a real threat.

Donald Trump Jr, eldest son of the former president, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump confirmed his grip on the Republican Party with a speech to conservatives insisting that he alone could save “our civilisation”, but a straw poll taken after his address s­uggests that his rivals may be closing the gap.

The former president, 75, who addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida at the weeke­nd, emerged as clear leader in a straw poll of delegates, with 59 per cent of the vote. In second place was Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, on 28 per cent.

Mr Trump returned to the familiar grievances he has railed against since losing the 2020 election. He attacked President Joe Biden over a succession of “policy failures” and accused him of squandering the strong economy which Mr Trump claimed he had created. He said left-wing “wokism” had overtaken the military and that the mainstream media was corrupt.

“Those that are attacking our civilisation have no idea of the sleeping giant they have awoken,” Mr Trump said during his 90-minute speech on Saturday night (Sunday AEDT). “They are going to find out the hard way in November 2024.”

While the poll still gave Mr Trump a sizeable lead, it did suggest that Mr DeSantis was emerging as a real threat to his ambitions to return to the White House. The former president’s support was similar to the level recorded at CPAC a year ago, but at another such gathering in July, in Texas, Mr Trump topped a poll of about a dozen candidates with 70 per cent of the ballots. Mr DeSantis was a good deal further behind, on 21 per cent.

Mr Trump name-checked a number of leading Republican politicians in his speech, most of whom had taken to the stage earlier in the week to lavish unqualified praise on him. Yet, despite the event being held in Orlando, there was no mention of Florida’s 43-year-old Republican governor, who many in the party see as the heir apparent.

Mr DeSantis, who the polls suggest is the only other Republican that could win the presidential nomination, did not mention Mr Trump either, in his confident, 20-minute speech on Thursday. Neither did his address question the legitimacy of the 2020 election, won by the Democrats. The CPAC straw poll is consistent with other, more scientific surveys showing cracks in support for Mr Trump among Republicans.

A recent poll of party faithful had Mr DeSantis narrowly ahead of the former president, while an NBC poll that has tracked Mr Trump’s popularity since his time in office has shown an ebb in support. At a 2020 election poll, 54 per cent of Republicans and independents who said they were likely to vote for the party’s candidate indicated that they supported Mr Trump more than the party itself. That compared with 38 per cent who said they identified more with the wider party. By January 2021, 46 per cent were with Mr Trump and 46 per cent with the party. By January this year the number backing the Republican Party rather than Mr Trump himself had­ ­jumped to 56 per cent, with barely a third sticking with the former president.

Mr Trump’s ambitions suffered a blow when it was reported that William Barr, who served as his attorney-general, has written in a new book that Trump has “shown he has neither the temperament nor persuasive powers to provide the kind of positive leadership that is needed”. Mr Barr also served as attorney-general under George H.W Bush.

Mr Trump was frequently the theme of speeches by lower-profile speakers at the CPAC, but more senior figures conceded that he will not have it all his own way in 2024. The organiser of the conference, Matt Schlapp, pointed to Mr De­Santis as the speaker who had been a crowd favourite, albeit in his own state. “Trump looms large,” Mr Schlapp told the Associated Press. “Does he run again? It’s overwhelming that people want him to. But there’s a diversity of opinion.”

Mr Trump’s most controversial supporters were given lower-profile speaking slots over the four-day program. Marjorie Taylor Greene, an outspoken congresswoman from Georgia, appeared on a Saturday morning panel hours after being featured at a conference of pro-Trump white ­supremacists.

It was notable that those Republicans who have been openly critical of Mr Trump were not invited to speak at the meeting. Despite constant complaints that Trump supporters are being silenced by the media and big technology companies, none of the Republican officials who voted to impeach Mr Trump after the January 6 insurrection in Washington were in Florida. Liz Cheney, from Wyoming, and Adam Kinzinger, from Illinois, were absent, as was Mike Pence, the former vice-president, who has since attracted the ire of his former boss for affirming Mr Biden’s election victory. Pence has made no secret of his intention to seek the party’s nomination in 2024.

THE TIMES