Trump’s Big Win At Turning Point – Former President Donald Trump celebrated a “blowout” survey on Sunday, telling his followers on Truth Social that he won 85.7% of the vote in a Turning Point Action conference straw poll.
“Just heard that I (WE!) won the big Turning Point Straw Poll in a BLOWOUT, getting 85.7% of the Vote,” Trump said on Truth Social.
The former president also celebrated the news that his two most critical contenders, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie trailed significantly behind him.
“Ron DeSanctimonious came in a solid 3rd with 4.3%, Vivek got 2%, and Sloppy Chris Christie, as usual, got a big, fat, ZERO!” Trump said, adding that the Turning Point even in West Palm beach set “all kinds of records, including in attendance” – a possible dig at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference that has seen plummeting attendance in recent years.
The straw poll also found that Perry Johnson, a Michigan businessman who announced his candidacy in March, came second to the former president with almost 8% support.
The results – notably the surprisingly good performance from the otherwise unknown candidate Perry Johnson – do not reflect the results of mainstream polls.
Does the Poll Mean Anything?
A straw poll of Turning Point USA activists reflects the views of the kind of people who are likely to attend an event that is explicitly pro-Trump. Charlie Kirk, the president of the conservative organization, has made his support of former President Trump clear not just in his words, but also in his 2020 book “The MAGA Doctrine.”
Turning Point events, while technically open to all Republicans, tend to lean towards Trump MAGA conservatism – and the poll’s results reflect that.
At the same time, however, the Turning Point Action poll reflects other surveys from mainstream polling companies that show the former president with a comfortable lead over all other GOP candidates. Perhaps the most notable difference between the Turning Point poll and mainstream surveys is not Trump’s position, or the lead he enjoys over other candidates, but the support for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
As Trump’s main contender – and the only Trump challenger to be regularly called out by name by the former president – the Florida governor saw virtually no support among Turning Point attendees, taking just 4.3% of the vote. In an Emerson College poll released in late June, the former president won 59% support among likely Republican primary voters, while Governor DeSantis trailed with 21%.
As it stands, DeSantis is unlikely to beat Trump – but Turning Point’s numbers don’t accurately reflect the views of non-Trump Republicans.
Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
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