“It’s a two-horse race,” Jeff Hunt said of the Republican presidential primary. The co-chair of the Western Conservative Summit 2023 came to this conclusion after seeing the annual survey results conducted during the summit, which has become very important over the years. Of course, the so-called horses in question are Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis.
What is this event about? “The Western Conservative Summit is one of the largest annual gatherings of conservatives outside of Washington, D.C. Our goal is to educate Americans on the key issues facing the West and our nation, equip people to stand up for faith, family and freedom, and train the next generation of conservatives,” they explain on their website.
As usual, the event was held in Denver, Colorado, and featured prominent speakers, including Josh Hawley, Asa Hutchinson, Larry Elder, Tulsi Gabbard, Lauren Boebert, Ken Buck and Yoram Hazony. Among the juiciest highlights of the conference is its annual poll of voting intentions for the Republican presidential primary, in this case, for 2024.
On this occasion, the conservatives present chose Donald Trump as their candidate to face Joe Biden in the next election. The recently indicted tycoon won 40.3% of the vote, slightly ahead of the Florida governor, who took 35.8%. Larry Elder (7.7%) and Tim Scott (5.8%) were far behind.
“The results are clear — Western grassroots conservatives want a fighter who will take on the radical Left and the institutions that are destroying America’s founding principles,” Hunt analyzed with the results in hand.
On the other hand, the popularity poll favored DeSantis, who showed an approval rating of 66.9%, slightly higher than Trump’s 63.4%.
Attendees also had to choose their most important political issue when going to the polls. Electoral integrity and religious freedom finished tied for first place, followed by education/parental rights, immigration/border security, gun rights, federal budget/debt, national defense, crime, abortion and China.
