Trump Defiant After New CPAC Straw Poll Results Show Majority Support Him: 'I Wouldn't Even Think Of Leaving'

Former President Donald Trump is apparently making big inroads in the race to win the Republican nomination, going by multiple recent poll results.

What Happened: Trump secured the backing of 62% of the respondents in the Conservative Political Action Conference 2023 straw poll conducted on Sunday, The Hill reported. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has yet to throw his hat in the ring, received 20% of the votes and came in at a distant second.

CPAC, the largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world, was held in the Gaylord National Harbor, Maryland between March 1 and March 4.

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley could muster only 3% of votes, standing behind businessman Perry Johnson, who was preferred by 5% of the respondents. Johnson announced his candidacy on Friday.

Trump's overwhelming lead in the poll does not come as a surprise, as CPAC conferences have turned Trump-friendly over the year, The Hill reported. He has won in each of the past five CPAC straw polls, the report said.

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Trump Determined: Following the publication of the results of the straw poll, Trump addressed a press conference Saturday evening ahead of his address to the CPAC conference. “I wouldn’t even think of leaving,” he said at the press meeting, CNN reported.

Subsequently, while speaking to the attendees of the CPAC conference, he said, “Every time the polls go up higher and higher, the prosecutors get crazier and crazier. We've got to stop these guys saying, 'we have to stop Trump ... because we can't stop them at the ballot box.'”

Haley and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy also spoke at the conference earlier in the week, while other potential contenders, including DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence, were conspicuous by their absence.

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